Ongole: Andhra Pradesh sand transportation committee Issued orders permitting sand mining from the Kandukur region, and it gave permission to dig up to about 5 lakh tonnes of sand.

In the wake of the sand mining in the area, some farmers have filed a petition in the court to stop the excavation and requested the court to stop the sand mining as they will not get water from the nearby Paleru Bitragunta canal with this sand mining. Court orders to stop the mining for a few months.

But with recent heavy rains, the sand levels in the Paleru Bitragunta canal have risen up and district officials inspected the sand docks and reported to the district sand mining Permit Committee seeking permission for excavation. The report was examined by committee officials.

According to the report, there were about 3.08 lakh cubic meters of sand at the Palleru Bitragunta canal. 7318 acres of water is received from the PB canal. And it is designed to store 0.759 tmc of water in the PB canal.

As the sand rose to a height of three meters, it was not possible to store 0.759 tmc of water as designed, and when the water came from the top, the PB canal could not be used or the water had to be discharged.

District Sand Committee representatives had a meeting which was chaired by Collector Pola Bhaskar. Officials of the APMDC, Mines and Irrigation departments officers also attended the meeting. The district-level committee convened on Saturday, October 6 to authorize the excavation of 3.08 cubic meters of sand.

The Committee recommends that all excavation activities should be started within one to two days. Two other dumping yards needs to be formed and all the mining activities will be taken care by the Andhra Pradesh mineral development corporation. APMDC has taken steps to allocate the sand mining in Gillellamudi village of Kandukur Mandal.

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