Sand mining: Telangana model will help state

S Yuvaraj, president of the federation, said the State would be able to generate an additional revenue of about Rs 20,000 crore per annum, besides generating more jobs. 

“We require about 35,000 loads per day which translates into about 1.25 lakh units of sand. The government rate per load of two units is Rs 1,050, and we buy it from the contractors at a cost of Rs 4,000 per load. This difference, which goes to the pocket of the middlemen, can go to the state’s treasury. We have no qualms about paying the same price to the government provided the state should take up the entire operations right from mining till it was sold without involving any third-party,” Yuvaraj said.

“The sale should be streamlined by consolidating the queue system besides ensuring uniformity in the sand quantity sold among the lorries. Sand supply should be limited only to the lorries having local permits to prevent smuggling to neighbouring states”, Yuvaraj added. The federation had also sought the government to form an exclusive board to execute the sand sale with zonal divisions each led by an officer in the IAS cadre.