The State government has fixed the sand price at ₹375 per tonne to be sold at a stock point located near the reach of the respective district.
This excludes transportation charges which depend on the distance and the mode of transportation.
The transportation charges will be ₹500 per tractor if the distance is less than 10 km. The buyer will have to pay ₹ 4.90 per tonne per km if the distance is more than 10 km and vehicle other than tractor is used.
The State Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy cleared these proposals at its meeting on Wednesday. The government has also decided to ban the export of sand to other States. Also, sand cannot be transported in vehicles which have no permission.
All the vehicles which have permission will be tracked through GPS.
The government, which has already kept ready 41 stock points in all 13 districts in the State, has plans to increase the number to 70 to 80 by October.
The stock points would be scaled up further in a phased manner. The Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) has kept 100 reaches ready.
Free policy scrapped
The APMDC has also identified 82 patta places. The government would pay ₹ 60 per cubic metre of sand excavated from patta land belonging to the farmers. The sand mining in patta land would be taken up by the APMDC with due permission from the farmers.
The loading and mining charges would be borne by the APMDC. The Cabinet also cleared another proposal to start desiltation centres at 31 locations by the APMDC.
Immediately after coming to power, the YSRCP jettisoned the free sand policy implemented by the previous government and imposed a ban on sand mining in the State.
The government plans to implement the new sand policy from September 5. Installation of CC cameras at sand reaches, steps to measure quantity of sand on weighing bridges while transporting it to the stock point are a few measures under consideration to curb illegal mining.
