The State government was on the defensive over the Free Sand Policy (FSP) in the Assembly on Monday as three ruling party MLAs – Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu (Visakhapatnam east), V. Prabhakar Chowdary (Anantapur urban) and K. Appala Naidu (Gajapatinagaram) and BJP floor leader and Visakhapatnam north MLA P. Vishnu Kumar Raju said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s wish to provide sand free of cost to the people was not being fulfilled and demanded an inquiry to pin responsibility.
They alleged that the price of sand had, in fact, gone up after the FSP came into effect as many unscrupulous elements entered the business considering it an easy way to earn money and were fleecing the people by collecting large sums over and above the loading and unloading and transportation charges.
Going a step ahead, Mr. Raju said it would be good if the government fixed a rate towards ‘rowdy mamool’ in addition to the stipulated loading and unloading charges amounting to ₹3,000 plus cost of transportation instead of itself being under the impression and making the people believe that sand was available for free.
He said procuring sand for construction in Visakhapatnam at the stipulated cost became a daunting task as the middlemen were blatantly extorting money from the people.
When Minister of Mines and Geology Sujaya Krishna Ranga Rao said 90% of the people responded to surveys that they were satisfied with the prices paid by them (they did not shell down more than the legitimate charges) and only the remaining 10% had problems, Mr. Raju said the Minister could check whether the allegations were true by sending persons he considered trustworthy to buy sand from the far-away reaches in Srikakulam and East Godavari districts.
Mr. Ramakrishna Babu said Visakhapatnam was heavily dependent on the sand reaches in the two districts as it had no bulk deposits of the mineral , which was a major reason for exploitation of the situation by the illegal businessmen.
