A day after the sand transporters called off their monthlong strike, supply of sand to the city resumed albeit at a low scale.
The price per load of 250 cubic feet of sand that had shot up to Rs. 1 lakh came down to Rs. 25,000.
Even though sand transportation resumed on Tuesday, the truckers alleged that the government had failed to provide enough sand to be transported to Bangalore.
President of the Federation of Karnataka Lorry Owners’ Association G.R. Shanmugappa said that while Bangalore requires an estimated 3,000 loads of sand every day, the government allocated about 100 loads of sand from Mysore and Mandya districts since Tuesday morning. At least 1,500 loads should be given to Bangalore to ease sand shortage, he added.
Mr. Shanmugappa said that the orders were yet to trickle down to the officials. Many of them had refused to allocate sand in many places since orders to do so had not reached them.
“The government should issue orders to the Deputy Commissioners to prevent confusion over sand extraction and allocation. Our lorries are waiting near the sand blocks,” he added.
The government, according to him, has allocated loads from Mysore, Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Kollegal, Tumkur, Davangere, Harihar, Mangalore, Sakleshpur, Holenarasipur and Hassan. Despite the allocation, sand has not been made available, he said, adding that transporters would be meeting Transport Minister R. Ramalinga Reddy and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to seek a solution.
M. Ramesh, national managing committee member of Builders’ Association of India, said that the price of sand had come down as availability increased on Tuesday.
“I got two loads of sand at Rs. 25,000 per load and we expect it to come down by a few more thousands in the coming days when availability of sand increases.”
