Nellore: Stage is set for e-auction for sand reaches on Tuesday. The auction was originally scheduled for February 16 but was postponed after abnormal biddings were filed against the prescribed MRP of Rs 500 per cubic metre in some other parts of the state.
In some districts such as East Godavari and Anantapur, aspirants quoted Rs 1,000 and even Rs 1,500 per cubic metre to the shock of the authorities forcing them to call off the auction.
Though there was no such bids, the process has been postponed in Nellore too then and it is being taken up on Tuesday in the entire state.
Sources in the department said that Metal Scrap Rating Corporation of Government of India, which is dealing with the e-auction of sand in AP, made modifications to the software pertaining to the e-auction to prevent bidders from filing tenders beyond Rs 500.
Mining officials said that they will adopt lottery system to select the successful bidder if all of them quoted the same rate for any reach.
According to information, aspirants belonging to Opposition parties filed bids for higher amounts in the previous auction to force the government halt the process.
Those involved in the sand mining since a long time in Nellore district said that they are wary of taking part in the auction because of excessive political interference and monthly bribes for various departments including irrigation, mines, revenue and police.
One more headache for the successful bidders is that they have to obtain the environment clearance for the reach, unlike in the past.
Moreover, they cannot use earth-moving machines to mine the sand. In case of Nellore, the district authorities identified 25 reaches for mining but only nine of them have environmental clearances.
Besides Pennar River, Kalangi and Swarnamukhi rivers were also brought in the gambit of sand mining this time. The auction is to mine 13.50 lakh cubic metres in these 25 reaches.
In the auction postponed on February 16, bidders had submitted 266 applications and officials found around 200 are eligible during scrutiny for participating in the auction in Nellore district.
