Chennai, Kancheepuram: With only four major sand quarries now operating in Tamil Nadu, the sand purchased in Tiruchy for Rs 1,500 (three units) is sold 35 times higher in Greater Chennai affecting the already choked realty sector.
Realtors and sand lorry owners want the government to eradicate the corruption and sand mafia that escalates the cost of river sand up to Rs 40,000 to 45,000 per load.
“The sand lorry owners in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur are forced to spend from eight to 12 days to get a load of sand. After submitting the demand draft and greasing the hands of local political functionaries the lorries are allowed to exit from the quarrying site,” said an office-bearer with Tamil Nadu Sand Lorry Owners Association.
According to R. Muniratnam, president, Tamil Nadu Sand Lorry Owners Association, real estate and the lorry industry are now in crisis due to the exorbitant rate of river sand and non-availability. Lorry owners are planning for a massive strike on July 12 in Chennai, he said.
“We need transparency at quarrying sites and there is a discrimination against lorry drivers coming from Chennai region. When a driver and his truck are forced to stay for more than a week to avail a load it escalates the price of the sand. Further, there are more than a dozen tolls for every trip and this adds to the cost for the customers”, said 74-year-old S. S. Mani, president, Tambaram sand lorry owners association.
“When I started the business some 50 years ago the sand was sold at '5 per load and only bullock carts were used, but now sand business has become too commercial,” he said.
Sprawling Kancheepuram district once blessed with three rivers - Palar, Cheyyar and Vegavathi — is now dry and mauled by drought. The exploitation of river basins for sand since 90s has now forced farmers to abandon irrigation this summer. “Till panchayats operated sand quarries the situation was better, Mani added.
“When PWD started handling quarries the exploitation went unchecked,” admitted a senior government official, adding that the government based on the Chief Minister Edappadi Palanisamy’s advice is now taking steps to bring in transparency at sand quarries.
“The file work to open more quarries has already started. Mining, PWD and pollution control board are now looking into the subject to ensure that a balance is maintained between ecology and real estate demand and the sand price will certainly come down”, the official said.
Villagers not for quarry in vicinity
Though the Tamil Nadu government announced that the sand quarries functioning in the state will be closed down one by one and the government will encourage the use of metal sand for the construction activities, due to the continuous pressure by the political leaders and the lorry owners, the government asked the pollution control board for its NOC for opening up of 30 more sand quarries across the state, official sources told DC.
The sources said there are 54 sand quarries functioning in the state and the time limit for these quarries already expired and only a few quarries are functioning across the state.
Apart from this, the PWD officials have undertaken a survey for establishing new sand quarries in various parts of the Tiruchy region in the Cauvery and the Coleroon evoked strong opposition by villagers and the environmentalists.
The villagers of Mungilpatti, Nagappamudalipudur of Tiruchy district raised their opposition for the proposed establishment sand quarries at river Cauvery in their villages, as it would severely affect the environment besides creating a drinking water shortage as the ground water level will go down further.
A large gathering of villagers of these two villages met district revenue officer K. Tharpagaraj at Tiruchy collectorate on Monday and submitted a memorandum in this regard, in which they said the existing sand quarry on the other side of river Cauvery at Nerur South in which the authorities of the quarry violated the prescribed norms and even they quarried the sand in Unniyur area, the adjacent village of their villages, illegally.
In the meantime, the officials of the PWD department conducted survey recently at River Cauvery and the adjacent private lands of their villages recently, created apprehension among them for their drinking water resources and they appealed to the District Administration to give up the proposed establishment of a sand quarry in their villages besides to construct a check dam across River Cauvery in between Nerur and Unniyur and to protect the agriculture as well the drinking water resources of their village.
Similarly, the residents of Kovilpatti village near Budalur in Thanjavur district also opposed the PWD’s move to open a quarry in coleroon river.
The sources said at present there are 10 sand quarries functioning, including at Thiruvasi, Kiliyanallur, Veeraganallur, Kondayampettai in Tiruchy District, Keelkondaiyur near Chennai and Chakaramallur in North Arcot district.
Efforts were on to open a few more sand quarries within a fortnight, the sources added and said this time there will be a severe protest from the respective villagers as well the environmentalists.
