Chennai: Ten days after the state government made online purchase of sand compulsory assuring adequate supply and price reduction and launched www.tnsand.com, sand distributors across the city rue that supply crunch still remains and the situation has worsened lately.
On the first day of registration (July1), 12,000 sand distributors registered demanding sand, the number rose to 24,000 on the second day and the website has received about 35,000 forms for sand till now. Despite the humongous number of orders, supply was started only on Saturday near eight quarries including those in Tiruchy, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Kadur and Vellore.
“The Tamil Nadu government’s initiative, a long-pending demand of the sector, was to reduce the long wait at quarries and stockyards. But they are not giving more than 50 loads per day. Due to the increased demand, the government started scooping sand from five other quarries on Monday, but that does not solve the issue as the demand is very high,” said Tamil Nadu State Sand Lorry Owners’ Association president, S. Yuvaraj.
General secretary of the association, R. Panneerselvam added that around 300 distributors receive a message from the government asking them to come to a quarry, but only 40 to 50 of them are given sand. “As of Tuesday, around 40 vehicles are waiting at Arcot for sand. This does not justify the purpose for which online sale of sand started. Waiting at quarries means additional pay to the driver and rent for lorry,” he said.
The prices have also remained the same after the launch of www.tnsand.com. Price stands at Rs 25,000 for two units. Distributors say the price is expected to rise because of the supply crunch and wait at the quarries, which will ultimately have an effect on consumers.
Suresh Krishn, president of Confedaration of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Credai) said about one crore square feet of construction is affected due to the supply crunch and online sale of sand has not helped in solving the issue. More quarries must be opened and the government must work on stopping the unauthorised players.
Members of Tamil Nadu State Sand Lorry Owners’ Association would be meeting CM Palaniswami on Tuesday at 6 pm to discuss the issue.
