Rows of sand quarry lorries have been waiting during rush hour on the Chennai-Bengaluru Highway (NH 48) in Perumugai, a tiny border village connecting Vellore with Arcot town in Ranipet district, taking turns to mine sand from the near-dry Palar river.
Parking of the lorries along the highway causes great hardship to motorists. Lorries, parked to a distance of 1 km along the highway, are causing other vehicles to negotiate on a narrow carriageway. Motorists said risk of accidents on the highway were more now due to lack of warning sign boards about such parking or any other safety measures to alert vehicles coming from Bengaluru.
“We noticed them [sand lorries] suddenly on the highway without any warning boards ahead. In fact, such parking on the highway is prohibited as it obstructs traffic flow and results in accidents,” said K. Shyam, a motorist.
Officials of the Water Resources Department (WRD), which maintains the river, said quarrying in the riverbed had been slow for a week due to frequent heavy rain in key towns like Gudiyatham, Katpadi, Ambur, Natrampalli, Vaniyambadi, Tirupattur, Arcot, Walajah and Ranipet. This had made quarrying difficult as the riverbed was wet. Also, mining was done manually instead of using heavy machines like poclain. These factors had increased the waiting time of lorries to three to four hours for every trip they make.
“Steps will be taken to prevent parking of lorries on the highway,” said an NHAI official.
At present, sand quarries are being operated in Perumugai, Vannivedu, Perungalmedu, Kandhaneri, Karanambattu, Thalaiyanambattu, Kangeyanallur, Sithathur, Ananganallur and Kuthambakkam. These villages are located in Vellore and Ranipet districts, along the Palar river, where sand mining has been allowed since April 18. Norms state that each sand quarry, on an average, has a mining area of 4.9 hectares with 16,000 Meter Cube (MC). Each sand unit is equivalent to 2.83 MC. Mining is allowed only up to a depth of one metre, officials said.
Trucks and lorries are the major transport vehicles to mine sand from the riverbed. Around 10% of transport vehicles is bullock carts. Each unit of sand is sold at ₹3,150 on online auction via TNsand website. Since April 18, each quarry, on an average, mines between 150-200 units in the Palar river every day.
