Telangana: Mafia's sand, vehicles to be auctioned

Hyderabad: The government as begun putting up for auction machines being used for illegal sand mining and vehicles transporting the sand and the sand itself, as it cracks down on the sand mafia.

Earlier, sand used to be seized and vehicles used for transportation were let off by collecting nominal penalties. The lax norms saw the sand mafia returning to action again.

The illegal sand mining is not only causing environmental problems but also huge loss to the state exchequer.

Minister K.T. Rama Rao, who took over the mining portfolio in April 2016, initiated several measures to curb illegal sand mining. This paid off as the state government’s earnings through sale of sand increased manifold.

Till 2014, the government used to get just '10 crore in the Telangana region, which rose to '419 crore in 2016-17. The government now auctions sand reaches and sand is sold online.

“We have tightened the norms and curbed illegal sand mining due to which the exchequer got huge funds,” Mr Rama Rao said. Despite this, there were some loopholes which were exploited by illegal sand miners.

To check this menace, the government ordered seizure of vehicles and machinery used in illegal mining and put up for auction.

The orders were issued last week. Within a week officials seized 12 tractors and two trucks in Gadwal, Karimnagar and Nizamabad districts that were used to transport illegal sand.

The vehicles were sent to transport offices for valuation to fix basic price and to begin the process of auction this week. The owners of these vehicles will also be allowed to take part in auction.