Sand to be Available Free for Construction within AP

Vijayawada: Sand will be available free of cost for all construction activity within Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said here on Friday.

He mooted the idea while reviewing the vexatious sand mining policy through a video conference with Ministers and District Collectors. Detailed guidelines in this regard will be worked out and notified soon, Ministers P Narayana and P Pulla Rao said after the video conference. The Government was considering supplying sand without any restrictions, they said. Steps would be taken to ensure that the free sand was not illegally shipped out of the state, they added.
Illegal sand mining had been thriving in the state for the past few years. The TDP Government, soon after assuming power in June 2014, entrusted the sand mining and selling responsibility to women self-help groups and introduced an online system. But the system apparently failed as sand continued to be sold at exorbitant prices due to increased construction activity in the State. Following this, the Government amended relevant mining rules many times in the last couple of years and also decided to review the policy as a whole.

The Chief Minister's annoucement took the participants of the video conference by surprise. He reportedly told the Ministers and Collectors that Rs 200 crore income that the Government was earning could be foregone as a welfare measure, sources said.