Confirming the worst fears of officials, the highest bidder in the Gani-Atukur sand auction has failed to pay 25 per cent of the knockdown price of Rs. 39 crore, that works out to Rs. 10 crore, in the stipulated time of two working days.
The highest bidder, Kankipati Subba Rao, Khammam, who filed a sealed tender for Rs. 39 crore, did not bother to make the slightest effort to collect the payment notice.
The payment notice was, however, delivered to the address mentioned in the sealed tender.
District Level Sand Committee chairman and Joint Collector Gaurav Uppal had on the day of the auction itself said that the exorbitantly high tender may have been submitted to scuttle the auction.
A detailed report had been sent to the Ministry of Mines and Geology to change the order governing the sand auction so that the tender could be granted to the second highest bidder when bids were filed for such exorbitant amounts with a malicious intention of scuttling the auction.
Mr. Uppal said auctions for the three other sand reaches in Krishna district at Damuluru, Magallu, and Madduru would be conducted on June 14 to improve the sand supply in the market. The auctions for only two sand reaches, one at Lankapalli in Pamidimakkala Mandal and another at Ibrahimpatnam in Ibrahimpatnam, had been successfully conducted, Mr Uppal said.
Delay in auctions
The conducting of auctions to some sand reaches was delayed because of delay in clearance from the Groundwater Department, he said.
