BENGALURU: Residents of the state can finally buy imported sand legally, and pay the GST levied on it, after the Mysore Sales International Ltd (MSIL) announced that the sand will be sold from Monday.
Faced with a shortage of sand in the state, and government had taken a decision to import river sand from a Malaysian firm for this purpose. And the sand will not be sold loose, but in 50 kg bags.
At an event to launch the sand, Dr G C Prakash, Chairman, MSIL, said the decision to import sand was taken due to the shortage in the state, as well as the various issues residents faced in procuring sand.
“Import of sand was not allowed earlier, but the government has amended the rule in the past few months. Each tonne of sand, including GST, will cost `4,000 in Bengaluru,” Prakash said. In the first stage, the sand can be purchased from Channasandra (Bengaluru district), Bidadi (Ramnagara), Doddaballapura (Bengaluru Rural), Kythasandra (Tumakuru), Mandya, Mysuru and Hubballi. From Monday onwards, the sand will be available in Bidadi, and later, at other centres.
Prakash said the requirement of sand in the state is three crore tonnes per year, of which 40 lakh tonnes was taken from river basins and as much as 2 crore tonnes was sold by unauthorised sellers. The state has a deficit of 60 lakh tonnes, said Prakash adding MSIL will try to fill this deficit, as well as curb unauthorised selling.