VIJAYAWADA: Excise Minister Kollu Ravindra on Thursday said reforms introduced by the coalition government over the past two years had revitalised AP’s mining sector, resulting in higher revenues, increased investments and transparency.
Addressing the media, he said a White Paper had revealed that irregularities in mining leases, illegal extraction and shortcomings in sand policy implementation between 2019 and 2024 caused losses of Rs 19,137 crore to the State exchequer.
The minister said the AP Minor Mineral Policy-2025 revived the sector by reducing annual dead rent, extending lease periods and restoring an application-based system. The reforms attracted over 1,700 applications and led to the grant of 172 new mining leases, generating Rs 172 crore in revenue and recording 262% growth compared with the previous administration.
Ravindra said the State auctioned 21 major mineral blocks and granted 11 mining leases and 10 composite licences. He added that companies such as JSW Steel, Vedanta, Hindustan Zinc, Ambuja Cements, Dalmia Cement and VNR Minerals had expressed interest in investing in AP.
Highlighting the Free Sand Policy, he said the government supplied 191.85 million metric tonnes of sand free of cost through 412 dispatch centres and 238 stockyards, reducing construction costs by 50%.
He said authorities issued demand notices worth over Rs 3,500 crore against illegal mining activities. He added that AP’s beach sand mineral resources could attract investments of Rs 20,000 crore. He expressed confidence that the department would achieve its Rs 3,500-crore revenue target in 2025-26.