Curbs turn boon for sand mafia

Chinks in mining policy cost state exchequer a bomb

Hyderabad: Is lack of in-depth study on sand mining and a proper policy costing the state exchequer a bomb? The answer appears to be ‘yes’.

The norms introduced by the government to curb the indiscriminate sand mining have actually become a boon for those thriving on the illegal trade. Despite the fact that there is an availability of at least 30 lakh cubic metres along the Godavari sand reaches, this apart from sand available in the local streams in Telangana,

the state faces acute shortage of sand and paving way for illegal trade.Following the concern expressed by the environmental agencies and the whistleblowers over the depletion of groundwater levels owing to indiscriminate exploitation of sand reaches, the government empowered the Telangana State Mineral Development Corporation (TSMDC) to de-cast and auction sand through a competitive bidding process in the state.

The government handed over the responsibility of sand mining to district level sand committees (DLSCs) for identification of sand-bearing areas under the chairmanship of district collector with the joint collector,

ITDA project officers concerned, deputy director of ground water department, assistant director of mines and geology and officials from irrigation and rural water supply as members.

The government has also allowed extraction of sand free of cost for local requirements after due verification from the panchayat secretaries. To carry out construction works of the government, the contractors had to pay Rs 40 per cubic metre.

In case of commercial purposes, the contractors had to book online for which the TSMDC charges Rs 500 to Rs 600 per cubic metre depending upon the quality of sand.

With most of the sand reaches are yet to get environmental clearances, illegal sand extraction is rampant and indiscriminate in the river-beds of Godavari, Kinnerasani, Munneru, Kattaleru and the list goes on…

According to Water, Land and Trees Act (WALTA) 2002, sand quarrying is not allowed within 500 metres of any river, bridge, dam and the depth of sand removal should not exceed 2 metres in streams. But these rules were also infringed upon by the contractors for obvious reasons.

Although the TSMDC introduced online booking of sand in 51 stock yards in the state, the sand sale management and monitoring system of TSMDC website shows only 15 of them are operational, 29 are stopped due to rains, five are about to start operations and the remaining two have ran out of stock. This has created a huge gap between the demand and supply.

The sand mined in Khammam and Warangal districts are ferried to Hyderabad, where the construction sector requires around 30,000 to 40,000 cubic metres a day. According to sources, while the government gets around Rs 8,000 per a truck load of Godavari sand, it’s fetching traders anywhere between Rs 50,000 and Rs 70,000 in Hyderabad.

Since there is a lot of money at stake, sand mafia either they use the forged waybills or they take four to five truckload of sand on one single waybill in connivance with the officials concerned and with the blessings of the local public representatives.

It’s said that traders are making use of the sand reaches identified for the local consumption. First, they procure it in the name of local constructions and for the government works, then they transport it to the cities where the demand is more.

Assistant Director of Mines, Khammam, S Venkat Reddy said, “The administration had identified 29 streams for local usage. Besides this, the authorities have identified 15 sand reaches on Godavari riverbed.”

Sources say that sand quarrying is yet to commence in 13 sand reaches owing to flow of Godavari and the other two are yet to get environmental clearances.

Adilabad Assistant Director of Mines A Pradeep Kumar said that although they had identified sand reaches at Velala and Konampeta, the quarrying is yet to commence as the TSMDC is yet to get the environmental clearances.

By:Adepu Mahender