HYDERABAD: Dealers, who were granted leases for sand and granite mining by the State government, have requested the Mines and Geology Department to extend their tenure, in view of their businesses taking a hit due to the pandemic. Hundreds of contracts with a fixed tenure were assigned to these dealers for sand and granite mining, among others, in Telangana. The dealers and contractors were told to get their work done based on the guidelines framed by the department.
However, with the tenure of the contracts coming to an end in a few months, they have sought an extension, stating that the Covid-induced lockdown had adversely impacted their work. They said that over the past year, the State was under lockdown for nearly five months, halting transportation and other activities. “We had faced financial issues after the mining activity in the State was halted during the lockdown. As per the prescribed safety measures, the employees working at mining sites were asked to keep away from work,” a dealer said.
“Moreover, transportation came to stand still and we were not able to take up any exports during that period. Keep this in mind, we have requested the Mining Department officials to consider extending the contract tenure to make up for our losses,” the dealer added. Reportedly, a few businessmen had lodged complaints by logging into the Mining Department’s portal. Due to the heavy load on servers, the portal subsequently crashed.
Mining portal down
Reportedly, a few businessmen had lodged complaints on the matter by logging into the Mining Department’s official portal. Due to the heavy load on servers, the portal subsequently crashed. It is still not available for online services