Kurnool, July 09: The illegal mining of sand in the district is depriving the government revenue to the tune of Rs 20 crore a year.
The activity is being carried out unabatedly in villages of Tungabhdara and Handri-Neeva command areas due to the collusion of people’s representatives and officials.
As much as 500 trucks and 50 lorries load of sand is being shifed daily.
While a tractor load of sand is sold for an average of Rs 1,000 that of a lorry is priced at Rs 8,000.
There are allegations that political leaders are involved in the illegal activity.
Sand is being transported from Kurnool city, Panchalingala, Mamidalapadu, Masamasidu, Munagalapadu, Nidjur, Vengannabavi, Devamada, Pardempad, Lakshmipuram, Dupad, Chinnatekur, Bastipadu, Pusulur, Bollavaram, Pandipadu and other villages.
While a truck load of sand is sold for Rs 650-Rs 800 in Kurnool city, the cost keeps increasing with the increase of distance. If the sand is to be transported to a 30 km away from the district headquarters, an amount of Rs 1,300 is charged while for a place 50 km away, the miner charges Rs 1,800 per truck. For shifting it further distant destinations like Mahaboobnagar and Hyderabad, the contractor charges nothing less than Rs 13,000.
According to the rules, sand is to be mined at specific points identified by the government. One point near Panchalingala has been temporarily leased out to the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) and two others near Pardempad and Devamada to a private construction company. However, the miners have been violating the rules and mining sand even from other places despite vigilance by the Mining officials and the reasons are obvious.
Earlier, the Revenue Department used to check the illegal sand mining but the government handed over the responsibility to the Mining Department on 20 February, 2007.
In 2008-2009, the government accrued an income of Rs 95 lakh through sand mining from the identified points.
It is estimated, according to sources, that there was a loss of Rs 3.6 crore to the government’s exchequer in the fiscal due to illegal mining.
Moreover, there is a fear that the excessive sand mining might lead to depletion of groundwater resources and result in drinking water problem.
Several people feel there is a need to constitute a special panel comprising Police, Revenue and Mining officials to check the activity.
Speaking on the issue, Mining Department AD Chandra Mouli has said they were imposing penalties on miners who had no permits. If a tractor is booked for a second time, criminal case is being lodged. Howver, he admitted that there was pressure from political leaders in implementing measures to check illegal mining.
–Agencies–