HYDERABAD: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has recommended that the Telangana State Mineral Development Corporation Ltd (TSMDCL) consider using remote sensing mapping or drone-enabled (intelligent video surveillance) technology to effectively monitor and regulate the sand excavations in the state.
The CAG found that CCTVs and weighbridges were installed at very few sand reaches and stock yards resulting in overloading of the vehicles at the time of their dispatch from the stockyards. The vehicles transporting sand were not provided with GPS and radio frequency identification devices to enable their tracking and monitoring the sand dispatch and delivery operations.
The TSMDCL did not evolve an appropriate stock policy and stock registers, stock balances were not maintained/recorded properly, according to the CAG report on general, social and economic sectors tabled in the Assembly on Thursday.
The CAG in its recommendations asked the state government to consider incorporating suitable provisions in the new Sand Mining Policy and the Telangana State Sand Mining (TSSM) Rules to bring sand-raising contractors and pattadars under the ambit of penalty provisions for breach of any contractual obligations.
The District Level Sand Committees (DLSC) have to ensure processing of the pattadar applications within the stipulated timelines and the TSMDCL may prepare an action plan to de-cast sand within the timelines stipulated in the agreements with the pattadars. The DLSC needs to consider allotting sand mining licenses in the Scheduled Areas to tribal societies.
The report also said that monitoring the impact of sand mining through photographing of project sites and recording the changes in the groundwater levels was not done, it said.
The TSMDCL did not incur the committed capital and revenue expenditure toward environmental protection measures as required. It diverted Rs 162.27 crore out of Rs 171.32 crore (94.71 per cent) of road damage charges collected from 2016-17 to 2020-21 for other than the specified purposes, the report said.