Hyderabad: Under attack from the Telugu Desam and BJP, the Telangana government has eased the norms for sand mining and its sales. The mode of sale was totally changed and made online. Those who wish to buy can do it through e-seva or Mee Seva, according to T. Harish Rao, minister for irrigation. Sand in TS will be cheapest in India, he claimed. The government has also stipulated timings to transport through trucks or other vehicles. It shall between 6 am to 6 pm only and if anyone is caught transporting at night, they will be punished and their sand seized, the minister made it clear.
The timings were primarily to avoid accidents as many vehicles carrying sand met with accidents at night. The government has also decided to auction over 2 lakh cubic metres of sand it seized over the past months from various places.Sand excavation programme will be started at Karimnagar and the tenders will be opened on Saturday. All other areas will be covered in a phased manner.
Permissions for sand excavation in patta lands will be issued only for the next 45 days or two months.
The government has announced a new sand mining policy on December 12 in which it was stated that TSMDC would pick up contractors through competitive bidding. Measures like monitoring sales of sand in the stockyards through CCTVs and electronic documentation would be linked to a central monitoring facility. The TD and BJP alleged that some ministers and TRS MLAs were involved in illegal sand mining and that mafia was ruling the roost.
