CID will investigate sand irregularities: CM Naidu

Vijayawada: Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu has announced that people who need sand can book this at their local secretariat.

The state CID would investigate sand irregularities of the past, the CM said, and emphasised that mineral resources should be protected from plunder. He was addressing the collectors’ conference here on Monday.

Naidu said that from now on, “as customers book the sand they need at the secretariat in their area, steps are being taken to enable them pay the transport charges to their home from the sand reaches.”

The Chief Minister explained: “After the truck with the sand reaches the customer's home from the reach, the transportation costs will be released to the owner of the truck. This would be done only after the customer tells him that the sand has arrived.

“All the trucks that carry sand will also be uberized like prepaid taxis,” he said, adding that the “rates will also be standardized.”

Regarding allotment of house sites to the poor in the R-5 zone in Amaravati, Naidu said that these “cannot be allotted in the R-5 zone, and the government will provide house sites in alternative places or TIDCO houses” to beneficiaries.

The Chief Minister said that illegal sand mining was done in recent years. None of the wrongdoers could escape and investigation would be done using latest technology. “Officials must tell the facts objectively without any concealment before the Supreme Court. The CID will investigate all the sand irregularities.”

Reviewing the availability of water resources, the chief minister directed the district Collectors to ensure filling of all the drinking water tanks in the state on time for supplying irrigation water to every acre.

Stressing the need for interlinking all the rivers in the state, Naidu noted that the state has five main rivers -- the Krishna, the Godavari, the Pennar, the Nagavali and the Vamsadhara -- and 35 small rivers besides 38,422 minor irrigation facilities.

“Some four crore acres of ayacut needs to be irrigated across the 26 districts. Let us make use of every drop of water in the ongoing rainy season,” he said.

Naidu said AP should be ‘number one’ in Ease of Doing. Investors from the state also moved to neighbouring states due to harassment by the previous government, he alleged, and stressed that this was now the time to instil confidence among investors to attract investments to the state.

He told the collectors that the pending work on ports and fishing harbours would have to be completed. “There should be no power cuts. We will promote handloom garments under which a Handloom Day will be held on August 7 at Chirala.”

On education, the CM said dropout rate should reduce to zero per cent and education curriculum should change according to local, national and international market needs. “Appoint teachers to vacant posts in all schools. Also, let us improve medical facilities in government hospitals on par with private hospitals.”

The Chief Minister announced the establishment of a corpus fund for Anna Canteens by following the TTD Nitya Annadanam concept.