CHENNAI: Ever since the Tamil Nadu government started selling sand online - to ease the bottleneck in supply and check exorbitant costs - there has been an acute shortage of the commodity, say sand lorry associations.
“About two years ago, we were getting more than 25,000 loads of sand per day. But we now get only 1,000-1,400. To compensate, about 20,000 loads of M-Sand are being bought. However, most land owners prefer to wait as the quality of M-Sand is poor,” said Tamil Nadu Sand Lorry Owner’s Federation president S Yuvaraj.
“M-Sand is comparatively weak as it has to be washed with water before use. But the water supply in Chennai is not conducive to this. Many builders complain that the sand is so weak that they are unable to stick tiles, so buyers prefer not to take M-Sand,” he added. While lorry owners now wait at least a month to get a load of sand, they used to get two loads per day two years ago, members of the federation said.
“A TN Sand website has been created and an officer appointed, but there are no other staff. They are completely dependent on the Public Works Department for the management and supply of sand. Instead, the government should set up a separate department to streamline sales,” said V Nandagopal, a builder in T Nagar. Due to this, builders, sand-lorry owners and construction workers are in a fix.
“Two of my projects were in the final stage in December 2018, when the sand supply was completely stopped. Only if I complete the projects can I take up others. Not just me, but a lot others who were dependent on me, including construction workers, electricians, plumbers and carpenters, have lost their jobs. The industry is crippled due to the shortage of sand,” said another builder.
According to real estate consultancy firms, one lakh jobs have already been lost in Tamil Nadu; construction work on one crore sq ft has been delayed, and investments worth Rs 10,000 crore have been affected, causing huge losses to developers and customers.
Besides, only three quarries are functional, while the city requires at least 35 to compensate for the low sand supply over the last two years and to meet current requirements. Officials concerned say the maximum permitted amount of sand is being extracted from quarries, and efforts will be taken to open more quarries.