The ban on sand mining in Kancheepuram district must be withdrawn to bring down the cost of sand transported to Chennai, according to members of the Tamil Nadu Earthmoving Equipment Owners Welfare Association.
Pointing out that many members had sand lorries that travelled up to Tiruchi to fetch sand, the association’s president Kathipara Janarthanan said here on Monday that a lorry load of sand was almost three times more expensive than sand to be fetched from places like Villupuram, Vellore, and Tiruchi. “It takes up to four days to bring sand from these places.
If sand quarrying resumes in Kancheepuram, sand will be available within a day,” he said.
Complaining about periodic fuel price increase, the association members said they had to increase the rental rates of earthmoving equipment by Rs. 100 an hour because of the increase in diesel price. At present, machines were given on hire for Rs. 700 and Rs. 1,500 an hour.
