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Prevent illegal quarrying of sand: KT Rama Rao
He said that plenty of sand would be available to all the people if illegal sand quarrying was prevented. Addressing a video conference called by him from Hyderabad on Friday to review sand quarrying, he told the district officials not to be harsh on those who transport sand through bullock carts and tractors
​Nizamabad: Information Technology and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao said that the main objective of the State government was to make sand available to the common man at reasonable prices.
He said that plenty of sand would be available to all the people if illegal sand quarrying was prevented. Addressing a video conference called by him from Hyderabad on Friday to review sand quarrying, he told the district officials not to be harsh on those who transport sand through bullock carts and tractors.
He said that they should impose penalties only on those who were smuggling sand and not seize their tractors or bullock carts. However, if smuggling of sand was being carried out in lorries, they should be seized and cases should be booked, the Minister added.
The Industries Minister directed the officials to install closed circuit cameras at river banks where sand quarrying was taking place so that they could effectively monitor and prevent smuggling of sand. Task Force and mobile squads could be setup to prevent sand smuggling by coordinating with the revenue, police, and mining department officials, he added.
Minister K T Rama Rao said that the State government has fixed a target to earn Rs 4,800 crore thorugh mining during the financial year 2016-17 and it wants to mobilize Rs 800 crore through sand quarrying alone. He said that according to new rules passed by the Central government, environmental clearances could be obtained at the district level itself if the sand quarrying was up to only five hectares.
Participating in a video conference, District Collector Dr Yogitha Rana said that the district has earned Rs 40 crore through sand quarrying taken up under the aegis of the Telangana State Mineral Development Corporation (TSMDC) during the last one year.
She said that Rs 35 lakh were collected by imposing penalties on those who were carrying out sand quarrying activities illegally. Surprise raids were conducted to prevent smuggling of sand, she added.
The District Collector said that review meetings were being organised every fortnight to distribute sand for taking up infrastructure development activities like construction of roads, buildings and for railway works. Four quarries have been allocated for this purpose, she added.
Yogitha Rana said that the Tahsildars and Revenue Divisional Officers have been given the powers to supply sand for taking up local construction activities like small government buildings, toilets and apartments. In accordance with the orders passed by the government recently, the district administration has sent proposals to set-up 27 new sand quarries, she added.
Principal Secretary (Industries department), Aravind Kumar, TSMDC Managing Director Ilambarithi, Joint Collector a Ravinder Reddy, DRO Mohan Lal, Assistant Collector Rahul Raj, Mining department assistant director S Bhaskar Reddy and others were present.
