Nearly 75,000 trucks involved in sand mining, refining and reselling trade across the State will stay off the road from midnight of January 7, according to Sella. Rajamani, president of the Tamil Nadu Sand Lorry Owners Federation.
Mr. Rajamani told The-Hindu that the indefinite strike was to demand withdrawal of the recent government order banning use of heavy machines such as earthmovers in sand quarrying. The year 2010 saw a vast increase in the price of construction materials such as cement, iron, bricks and gravel while the stable price of sand alone consoled the construction industry.
“Chennai alone requires about 7,000 truck loads of sand every day. We are able to supply a mere 800 to 1,000 trucks,” he said and added that the price of a truck load (three units) had also increased from Rs.6,000 in November 2010 to Rs.18,000, as on date.
Lack of manpower
It was also highly impossible to manually mine at certain pockets of the Cauvery and Kollidam in Tiruchi district as a section of its tributaries ran through hills and forests. Lack of manpower was another handicap, he said.
The government order would render nearly 1.5 lakh drivers and cleaners and about 50 lakh construction workers, including a good number of people from other States, jobless he added.
