The Telangana government aims at earning more revenue and ensuring less price for consumers through its new sand mining policy, the rules of which were released two days ago.
Emphasising this at the video conference with Collectors on Saturday, Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao said a good rate for sand could be ensured by usage of machinery rather than manual excavation. He asked them to identify sand reaches in rivers and streams and hand them over to the Telangana State Mineral Development Corporation, which will execute the excavation with the help of contractors.
There is sand shortage now but such a complaint should not be heard when construction activity picks up in Telangana, he warned.
The Minister heard suggestions from the Collectors on fine-tuning the policy, one of which pertained to fixing the price of sand at the corporation level and not district-wise. Nizamabad Collector D. Ronald Ross, who raised the issue, also highlighted movement of sand into the district from across the Maharashtra border. The mines authorities of the district said there was no ban on bringing sand from other States but it was banned vice-versa. The Special Chief Secretary of Industries, K. Pradeep Chandra, said the cost of sand in all districts was uniform but transportation was the only variable. The permits for transportation will have a window of only three to four hours for delivery.
Khammam Collector K. Ilambarithi suggested that all revenue from sand mining be transferred to the corporation but Mr. Pradeep Chandra dismissed the same because it would lead to tax outgo. Nalgonda Collector T. Chiranjeevulu said 16 out of 19 sand reaches in the district did not qualify for quarrying by Water Air Land and Tree Act. Later, the Minister said that the conference also discussed Mission Kakatiya to restore irrigation tanks and came to the conclusion that scrutiny of financial estimates for half of the 9,300 tanks would be over next week.
