The new Sand Mining Policy of allowing self-help groups (SHGs) manage and administer the sale of sand is bringing in much-needed moolah for the cash-strapped State. Income from the resource has risen from barely Rs 100 crore in the undivided Andhra Pradesh to more than Rs 571 crore in the 13 districts of the residuary entity. And that’s in just the first 10 months of the new polcy.
Under the new regimen, which came into vogue in August 2014, the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) entrusted the residuary state’s 334 sand reaches to district or mandal ‘mahila samakhyas’ (women’s groups) or grama sanghams (village societies) for effective mining.
These self-help groups (SHGs) are doing all they can to generate revenue from sand. At the end of 10 months of the new policy, East Godavari district is topping the list with a collection of over Rs.112.48 crore while West Godavari stands second with Rs.103.81 crore and Krishna district third with Rs.87.88 crore.
According to officials of the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) and the Department of Rural Development, all but 13 of the state’s 347 sand reaches have been brought into operation and the total quantity of sand available has climbed to 228.13 lakh cubic metres. Of this, 93.26 lakh cubic metres has been sold, generating Rs.571 crore as revenue.
To get a fix on that number, compare it to the total revenue collected from sand under the earlier policy in united Andhra Pradesh: Rs.100 crore.
Under the previous policy, sand reaches were allotted through open auction. This allowed contractors formed cartels which ensured that reaches remained in their hands and the prices were held down in a vice-like grip. Revenue figures for last year, clearly demonstrate how the exchequer was deprived of income: East Godavari district managed to make only Rs.47.97 crore while this year’s second-placer West Godavari scraped together barely Rs. 20 lakh. Krishna district could generate only Rs.109 crore from sand in 10 years.
