Serpentine queues of sand lorries were witnessed at quarries on the Cauvery and Coleroon rivers in Tiruchi region and along highways on Thursday as the Public Works Department (PWD) started reopening sand quarries that were shut following a Madras High Court order against mechanised mining in some quarries on April 28.
Sand quarries in Tiruchi region were being opened in a phased manner since Wednesday. While one quarry opened its doors to buyers on Wednesday, four more were opened on Thursday. All quarries that were functioning with permission for mechanised quarrying prior to the court order would reopen in a phased manner in the next few days, PWD sources said.
Significantly, the PWD has started mining river sand and loading trucks on its own instead of deploying loading contractors who for several years were retained for the operations.
“The quarry on the Coleroon at Viragalur near Lalgudi started functioning on Wednesday. Four more quarries started functioning at Silaipillayarpudur near Musiri, Kondayamepettai near Thiruvanaikovil in Tiruchi district and Mayaur and Sinthalavadi in Karur district began operations on Thursday. A few more will start functioning in the next few days”, PWD River Conservation Division sources told The Hindu here.
Sand quarries across the State were shut on April 28 after the High Court restrained the PWD from allowing mechanised quarrying in certain quarries. Sand lorry operators had been clamouring for the reopening of the quarries citing job loss.
Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami had announced that the government would directly operate the quarries skirting the loading contractor who was entrusted with the task of mining sand and selling it through second sales stock yards.
Truck operators had been opposing second sales, alleging they were forced to pay a price higher than the government fixed rate.
To ease operations, the PWD has already approached the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) for effecting due amendments to the environmental clearance norms with regard to nine quarries that the HC had restrained from mechanised mining and loading. Operations could begin at those quarries, possibly by Monday, the sources indicated.
With the PWD undertaking the mining and loading operations, the truckers are now required to pay only ₹525 for a unit of sand, payable through demand draft.
On Thursday, there was a huge pile up lorries, waiting to load sand from a quarry on the Cauvery river bed at Kondayampettai near the city and also along the Tiruchi-Chennai Bypass Road and the Chennai highway. Hundreds of sand lorries lined up for two to three km on one-side of the highway.
Sand lorry operators pointed out that the quarries were shut for more than 10 days and hence the rush. Besides, only limited number of quarries have reopened so far, they said and urged the PWD to expeditiously open other quarries. They also demanded that the PWD should regulate the queue of sand lorries.
“The officials should consult experienced sand lorry owners on this aspect. For instance, lorries should be allowed into the river bed only via Killikoodu and exit via Kondayampettai after loading. Due to the unregulated rush, the waiting time is bound to rise and we will have to pay more wages to the lorry crew,” said T. C. B. Sambandamurthy, coordinator, Tiruchi District Integrated Sand Lorry Operators. Now lorries were rushing in from several directions and pathways on the river, he pointed out. Sand lorry operators also suggested introduction of swiping machines at quarries to avert the need for getting demand drafts.
A PWD official said they were planning to open sand depots in various spots to feed the line of lorries to avert traffic problems on highways.
A section of sand lorry operators fear that due to operation of fewer quarries, constraints on operation time, use of only two excavators for mining and loading, manpower requirements, streamlining and manning turn points and dealing with local issues, it would be quite a task to load 100 trucks in a quarry daily instead of the regular 300. That means, the price of sand for the buyer could remain high for some time now.
