A huge quantity of sand has accumulated on “patta” land owing to the recent floods, and families owning such land can either utilise this sand for construction or sell it by paying royalty to the government, Minister for Mining and Geology C.C. Patil has said.
There are no restrictions on extraction of sand from patta land (privately owned agricultural land) situated along the rivers, he told presspersons here on Tuesday. Nearly two billion tonnes of sand has accumulated on patta land during August in southern and northern parts of the State.
The government’s permission to allow sand extraction from these lands would provide relief to the construction industry, he said. The government has also planned to bring out a new sand policy on the lines of the one in Andhra Pradesh and it would be formulated in the next three months, he said. On granite policy, Mr. Patil said a new one would be formulated based on the policy adopted by Rajasthan. The State government was expecting revenue from mining totalling ₹4,000 crore in 2019-20, he said.
