Andhra Pradesh To Engage Central Agencies For Sand Mining Activities

The Andhra Pradesh government will engage Central government bodies for excavating, storing or selling sand in the state on the nomination basis on terms and conditions as per by the state government for sand excavation, storage and sale operations. The new policy will eventually encourage private participation.

Tje Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh launched a new sand policy last year, which claimed that it had freed sand reaches from the clutches of Telugu Desam leaders. Previously, it aimed at providing sand at the doorsteps of its consumers.

However, as a part of upgrading the existing policy, it decided to withdraw the sand supply.

An official statement said that under the new sand policy, auctions will be limited for the sand reaches and it will be first assigned to central public undertakings. In case, they don't come forward to participate in it, then it will be given to private entities through open tenders.

The users can directly go to the reaches and transport sand through their own vehicles without any extra cost

The state government has instructed the Director of Mines and Geology Department to explore the chances of nominating Central government agencies to undertake sand mining operations in the state.

All the sand reaches will be classified into three packages. Package 1 will include Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts, while package 2 will include West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and Prakasam districts and package 3 will include Nellore, Anantapur, Chittoor, Kurnool and Kadapa districts.

There will be separate tenders called for each package. The government will fix the prices for buying sand at the reach and for door delivery. It can be booked both online and offline.

The press note also stated that sand reaches in the scheduled areas will continue to be granted and operated by tribal societies as per the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Rules, 2011.

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