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Sand crisis hobbles construction works
Though the government has successfully managed to control illegal mining of sand in the district, on the flipside, unclear practices and delay in procuring sand for construction works has hit the livelihood of poor labourers in Mahabubnagar.
Delays in the sanction of challans for procuring sand in the district have halted many projects. Those who are able to afford are procuring sand for 10 times the market cost from other districts like Kurnool and Karimnagar
Mahabubnagar: Though the government has successfully managed to control illegal mining of sand in the district, on the flipside, unclear practices and delay in procuring sand for construction works has hit the livelihood of poor labourers in Mahabubnagar.
Masons and house-owners are facing a tough time to procure sand for construction works. Moreover lack of coordination between the revenue departments and Telangana State Mining Corporation (TSMC) officials is causing a delay in procuring sand for weeks and months and is forcing masons to halt construction projects.
According to rough estimates, more than 80 per cent labourers are suffering from lack of work due to sand scarcity in the district. There are about 7,500 to 8,000 houses that are currently being constructed in the district. Gadwal, which has large number of masons in the district, has been affected due to slowdown in the pace of construction.
“Earlier, the house-owners and masons used to procure sand from Kurnool, but this has been banned. Labourers are now looking to migrate to other places in search of employment,” says a member of Gumpu Mestri Association in Gadwal.
Unlike before, procurement of sand has become complex. Prior to 2009, the VRO used to do the ‘panchanama’ by taking the views of beneficiaries and payment of challan through the MRO. But post that year, the housing AE used to give the details of beneficiaries to MRO who issues the permission letter.
But once the new government took over in 2014, there is no proper clarity on the government’s procedure of procuring the sand. In fact, the government has identified some areas of sand quarries under various mandals in the district.
The beneficiary will get the permit letter from the MRO of that concerned mandal, but if the quarry is not in that particular mandal then the beneficiary will have to submit the same letter to the MRO of the mandal where the quarry is located.
It is here that it takes weeks or sometime months for beneficiaries to get sand as the MRO has to direct the VRO of that concerned mandal to issue a challan for the same. This procedure is giving opportunity for the officers to deliberately delay the process giving scope for corruption.
Vexed with this procurement process of sand in the district, many of the builders and house- owners are procuring sand for 10 times the market cost from other districts like Kurnool and Karimnagar.
At present the demand for sand in the district is 50,000 tons. While the government has identified only 10 pattta quarries in Midjil and Addakal mandals where about 1.80 lakh cubic metres of sand is available at these quarries in the district.
In the recent times, demand for sand has drastically increased in the district forcing the builders and construction owners to procure it from Karimnagar.
By A Raju
