In a significant move, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has announced the continuation of the Free Sand Scheme that he had implemented five years ago during the last Telugu Desam Party government.
A decision has been made to resume the free sand distribution, and the process will be set in motion in the next 10 to 15 days.
The Chief Minister directed state mines minister Kollu Ravindra to ensure smooth implementation of the scheme.
Minister for Mines and Geology Kollu Ravindra has said that the government will soon come up with a free sand policy in three months to help revive the construction sector thereby providing livelihood to lakhs of workers.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was personally looking into the matter as taking sand within the reach of the common people was crucial for the economy.
He instructed the officials concerned to frame fool proof guidelines for implementing the policy effectively.
Stock points which have permissions and also the illegal ones would be identified in the next fortnight for distributing sand free of cost to the public, the Minister said.
Addressing media persons at the Secretariat on Wednesday, Ravindra said the previous government’s sand policy rendered a huge number of workers dependent on 40 trades in the construction sector jobless.
Sand was sold by private agencies without any control in the last five years. The proposed free sand policy would be helpful to workers and would make construction affordable for the people, he asserted.
Ravindra said sand mining could not be done before September due to the monsoon and it had been estimated that one crore tonnes of sand would be required in the next three months.
The sand transportation charges would be regulated so that they would not be burdensome, and steps would be taken to curb black marketing, Ravindra added.
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