Tiny villages on the banks of the Krishna in Nalgonda, Krishna and Guntur districts bustle with activity during midnight. Huge rafts will be used to help trucks to cross the Krishna river from Guntur district to Krishna district. Reason? Illegal sand quarrying.
The sand collected illegally from the River Krishna on Guntur district side, will be transported via raft as this is the safest route to avoid official inspections, if any.
Sand is now a precious material, like gold. So, the illegal sand mining and transportation continues with the help of politicos in the district. Both, the opposition and ruling party leaders are involved in the money spinning sand business.
There are a lot of restrictions on sand quarrying now, but the demand for sand is high in Hyderabad, where the construction activity is in full swing. On the river bed, the sand is just sand. When the smugglers load it into a tractor and later shift it to a truck to carry it to Hyderabad, it becomes gold. The price is very high, when it changes hands from petty worker to a contractor.
Sand is available at Palem Vagu, Moosi, Bikkeru, Kanagal and Haliya vagu of Nalgonda district.Â
Illegal transporters collect sand at midnight and transport it to Hyderabad by trucks. Many villagers have complained to the concerned officials and police, but the officials do not respond. It is general belief that the officials get bribe from the illegal transporters to the tune of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 per truck load of sand. Sand laden trucks would move from the storage place to construction places in Hyderabad.
The sand smuggling is not an easy task. Tractors collect the sand and take it to a nearby place during midnight. The sand will again be loaded into trucks, most of which proceed to Hyderabad immediately. The henchmen of smugglers follow the trucks in jeeps or Sumos up to their destination. This extra care is to alert the truck driver on the possible raid by mining, police or RTA officials. If they are caught, the officials will levy heavy penalty besides seizure of the trucks.
Some of the officials were used to collect bribes from the smugglers and give code numbers to the trucks, carrying sand. Thus, the trucks with code numbers will not be stopped en route.
Currently, the illegal transportation of sand continues unabated at Mattampally with the support of local leaders. They collect sand from outside and inside of the river of Guntur district and transport it to lorry on ballakattu. Officials and police are not filing cases due to political pressure.