VIJAYAWADA: Even as the demand for sand during the ongoing monsoon season stands at 50,000 tonnes a day on an average, officials of the AP Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) are confident of meeting the demand.Sand reserves stood at 53 lakh metric tonnes against the 70 lakh metric tonnes target set by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. However, the officials said it is enough to meet the demand of the construction sector during the monsoon.
When contacted, APMDC Managing Director Harinarayanan told TNIE that they have cleared almost all the backlogs, except 50,000 metric tonnes, and are hopeful that the available sand stock is enough for the season.Stating that sand mining came to a halt, he said that the mining activity would resume after the floods recede. “As of now, 53 lakh metric tonnes of sand stock is available,” he said. Asked whether the lockdown had any impact in storing more quantities of sand as directed by the Chief Minister, the official said though they took up sand mining on a full scale, there was a huge demand after the commencement of construction activities post-lockdown.
Officials of the APMDC said the demand for sand at one point of time post lockdown stood at around one lakh metric tonnes on an average a day and they used to supply more than the demand for clearing the backlogs. The officials said they could not meet the sand demand during the lockdown from March last week to May because of the unavailability of workers and restrictions in mining and transportation of sand. This resulted in delay in meeting the day-to-day demand during those two months. However, the backlogs have almost been cleared now, they said and added that they are able to meet the daily demand at present.
Sand demand, storage
50,000 tonnes a day: Sand demand at present
53 lakhmetric tonnes: Sand reserves for monsoon
70 lakhmetric tonnes: Target set by Chief Minister