VIJAYAWADA: Even as lockdown restrictions affected sand mining in summer, officials of Mines and Geology department have succeeded in setting aside 55 lakh metric tonnes (MT) as against the 70 lakh MT target fixed by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to cater to the needs of construction industry in monsoon season. According to senior officials, despite the onset of monsoon, they are confident of reaching the target. The demand, at present, stood at around one lakh MT on an average per day. “We are being able to supply 20,000 MT to 30,000 MT more than the average demand and are also clearing the backlogs,” the officials added.
Of the one lakh MT, 60,000 MT to 70,000 MT are being booked by individual purchasers, while 30,000 MT to 40,000 MT by bulk purchasers (for government works and contractors).Despite meeting the average demand, the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) , which is entrusted with the task of mining and supplying the construction material, could not meet the demand in April and May because of unavailability of workers for mining and transportation of sand, resulting in delay in meeting the day-to-day demand.
Despite getting relief from lockdown and meeting the average demand, the APMDC could not reach the target of 70 lakh MT since sand was supplied on first come, first served basis.Speaking to TNIE, Principal Secretary (Mines) Gopal Krishna Dwivedi asserted, “Sand mining improved in June. We are making all-out effort to store the targeted 70 lakh MT and meet the average demand and clear all the sand bookings.”
“At present, 8 lakh MT of sand is needed to clear all the pending bookings. We can clear the same in a fortnight by increasing the sand supply to 1.50 lakh MT per day, besides meeting the average demand of one lakh MT a day,” he added.However, Dwivedi exuded confidence of increasing the sand stock to meet the demand in monsoon season. This apart, he said all the district collectors have also been instructed to identify those sand reaches where sand mining can be done even during floods.