Bangalore: The price of natural sand is set to touch an all time high of Rs 40,000-50,000 per truckload soon. Sand lorry owners have gone on a strike and refused to lift sand, protesting against the state government’s recent sand policy, leading to the sudden spurt in prices. Members of the Lorry Owners’ Association allege that the sand policy has been drawn up to harass them and to help the sand mining lobby.
The state requires approximately 15,000 truckloads of sand a day, while Bangalore, which takes the lion’s share, needs around 5,000 loads. But the flow of sand has stopped affecting the construction industry across the state.
At the centre of the problem is the new sand policy. The lorry owners allege that the government policy has given them a raw deal, while favouring the powerful and influential mining lobby. The strike has created an artificial scarcity that has led to a spurt in sand prices. “Ultimately, consumers will be affected,” said V.H. Rudraiah, secretary, Mysore Road Lorry Owners’ Association.
The lorry owners allege that the mining lobby has thrown its weight and got the sand policy tweaked in its favour. The policy states that lorry owners will be fined Rs 25,000 and put behind the bars for two years if found transporting sand illegally.
But the policy fails to address the core issue of unavailability of sand, welfare of 20,000 truckers and issuance of permits to these owners. Truckers alleged that they are subjected to harassment by multiple government agencies, which have been empowered to check sand lorry permits.
Earlier, five agencies were authorised to check the permits, but with the new sand policy, the number has been increased to 14. With it, the number of government officials, who have to be paid bribes to get the lorries through, has also increased.
At every checkpoint of every department, government officials have to be paid, lorry owners alleged. These collateral costs, along with the increase in prices of sand and diesel, have contributed to the price of a truckload of sand going up from Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000 over the last six months.
“Transporting sand to Bangalore is a nightmare, as deputy commissioners of all districts along the way have been empowered to check sand lorry permits. We have stocked nearly 60,000 truckloads of sand near Mysore, but district authorities have not allowed us to transport it to Bangalore. We appealed to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah several times, but we have not received any relief. Instead, the government came out with this policy to harass us,” said Rudraiah.
“The common man’s dream of building a house will be shattered and infrastructure projects delayed if sand prices are increased multiple times in a year,” said G.R. Shanmukhappa, association president.
The association is demanding that the policy must emphasise on monthly permits and allow only officials from the mines and geology department to check the permits. “The government should hold a dialogue with us in the presence of the media,” Rudraiah demanded. If the issue of permit is streamlined, the cost of the sand will become affordable, he said.
Next: Gap in demand and supply cause of substandard filter sand
Gap in demand and supply cause of substandard filter sand
The huge gap in the demand and supply of sand has led to an indiscriminate supply of substandard filter sand, which is prepared by washing mud repeatedly with water. The use of filtered sand reduces the quality and longevity of buildings.
With the supply of river sand drying up and environmentalists demanding an end to excessive mining in riverbeds, the government may change specifications of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to ensure substitutes for sand that could be used by the construction industry.
“It is high time that the government focused on alternatives like manufactured sand (M-sand) if the natural sand cannot meet the demand. If the issue of natural sand is not resolved, next year would be bad for the realty sector,” said Nagaraj Reddy, president of CREDAI.
M-sand has good adhesive quality and brings down the cost of natural sand. In future, to avoid complete dependence on natural sand, the production capacity of M-sand must be increased.
Environment issues with regard to quarrying seem to have been resolved. Certain exemptions must be sought from the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board to allow manufacturing of artificial sand, he said.
