Three shiploads of river sand from Malaysia to reach Chennai

The assurance has come following a sit-in protest on Monday by Tamil Nadu State Sand Lorry Owners Association to highlight the severe shortage in supply of sand. Besides affecting their livelihood, the shortage has also hit construction activity throughout the State.

“Three vessels from Malaysia, each carrying one lakh tonne of sand, will supply it within the next two weeks,” an official told DT Next.

Meanwhile, the lorry owners association said they were forced to go on a protest, as the government was supplying only a meager volume of sand across the 32 districts. “This indirectly encourages the illegal market for selling substandard M-sand, river sand and silicon sand here,” said S Yuvaraj, the president of the association. The association members charged that several of them had made payments to the tune of Rs 20 crore through the online portal about six months ago. However, they are yet to receive sand despite the long wait. “While the owners are paying interests for the loan taken to run the business, the government is collecting an interest of Rs 20 lakh every month for this amount,” alleged Yuvaraj.

In a petition, the association demanded the government to increase the number of sand quarries instead of operating just a single quarry in the State.

It was in October that the government imported river sand from Malaysia for the first time – a consignment of 55,000 tonnes. Each load of sand was priced at Rs 10,350, which was supplied to the public through the online portal, TN Sand.

For the convenience of the consumers, the authorities are planning to open a dedicated booking counter at the Chennai Port in the coming days, sources said. This facility is meant to help lorry drivers who can make fresh bookings at the port.

“We require time to fulfill all their demands. We will open five more quarries along the Cauvery basin in January. This will help meet the demand,” said an official.