AP to supply sand at ‘affordable’ rates without charge except taxes

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to supply sand to the needy without charging any revenue share except collecting the cost of operations, statutory levies and taxes.

The government set up an ‘interim mechanism’ till the formulation of a new sand policy in the state, as per the GO-Ms-43 issued here on Monday. It would make sand available to consumers at affordable rates and maintain transparency vis-a-vis the sales and extraction operations.

The aim is to prevent any scope for illegal sand excavation and transportation by effective vigilance and by complying with the environmental regulations and orders issued by the courts and the national green tribunal.

Some confusion had been created as the government hinted that it would supply sand free of cost.

The government issued a set of guidelines for the sand policy. District-level sand committees headed by the collector as chairman would oversee the sand operations. These committees would take over the sand stocks available in the depots.

The DLSC chairman would appoint VRO/VRA/gram and ward secretariat officials or any other official as stockyard in-charge for each sand depots/desiltation points. The stockyard in-charges are responsible for the smooth conduct of excavation, loading, sales and dispatches. The DLSC chairman will appoint agencies/manpower to undertaking activities like loading, ramp maintenance, security etc.

There will be no revenue share to the government and the cost of operations along with statutory levies and taxes will be charged on the consumers. The cost of operations includes the expenditure for excavation, loading, transportation to sale point, ramp maintenance, administrative expenses etc.

Statutory levies and taxes mean the seigniorage fee, DMF, MERIT and GST. The DLSC will fix and notify the amount at each source depots/de-siltation points. The DLSCs can modify the rates wherever necessary, taking into consideration the changes in the operating costs/levies and taxes from time to time.

The details of all the depots/desiltation points (stockyard) such as location, available quantity, notified charges will be displayed in the website of the director of mining and geology on a daily basis to inform the public.

The consumers requiring sand shall be required to go to their desired stockyard to purchase sand. At the stockyard, details like Aadhaar number, mobile number, delivery address and vehicle number will be collected and the notified charges will be collected through digital mode and sale receipt/invoice will be issued to the consumer. The sand will be allotted to the consumers on a first-come-first-serve basis. The stockyard operates from 6 am to 6 pm.

In each district, a joint account of the district collector and district mines and geology officer will be opened with an online banking facility and all financial transactions related to sand operations will be done through this.

Availability of sand at stockyards and sand sources will be digitised to know the comparative availability of sand for better operational management at district level.

The DLSC will ensure that statutory levies collected from the sand supplies are remitted towards the respective head of accounts of the consolidated fund of the state government. It will remit Rs 2 per metric tonne of sand dispatched toward the DMG current account for maintenance of command and control room and for other IT initiatives.

Each consumer will be permitted to purchase a maximum of 20MT per day till supplies are stabilised in order to prevent hoarding/ black marketing of sand. The limits may be revisited and modified by the DLSC based on demand and supply.

No stocking of sand more than the requirement for own construction and no re-sale of sand and transportation to other states will be permitted.

The DLSC will set up a complaint redressal mechanism and it ensures all the operations to comply with the environmental norms.

The state government would impose penalties for offenses like illegal/unauthorised excavation in prohibited areas, transportation of sand outside the state and for transporting sand without valid sand waybill/invoice. The penalties include for both first and second offense.

Accordingly, for tractor, the rate is`10,000 for first offense and Rs 10,001 to Rs 20,000 for second offense. For lorry with 10 tyres, it is Rs 25,000 and Rs 25,001 to Rs 50,000. For lorry with above 10 tyres, it is Rs 50,000 and machinery, it is Rs 50,001 to Rs 1,00,000. For bullock cart, it is Rs 2,000; and Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 for repeated offenses.