Ensure supply of sand: CM to officials

HYDERABAD: With the Supreme Court upholding the AP High Court order banning sand mining in Andhra Pradesh,  chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Tuesday asked chief secretary Pankaj Dwivedi and other officials to initiate  the process for sand mining and supply sand to the state government departments like irrigation and roads and buildings.The chief minister at a review meeting held here on Tuesday instructed the officials to expedite the process of obtaining permission from the competent authority of environment and forests ministry for sand mining. He said 70 to 80 lakh construction workers have been suffering as there was no supply of sand. The modernisation of delta works may also be delayed, which may cause delay of supply of water to canals, he said.Finance minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy said certain doubts raised by the Supreme Court will be looked into after studying the orders. The state government will submit a detailed report to the court as well as to the Centre, he said.According to the finance minister, the state government had already submitted a report to the Centre and the Supreme Court, but the apex court wanted more clarifications. The state government will look into various other alternatives relating to sand mining in the state, he said.It may be noted that on Monday, the apex court directed the state government to approach the environment and forests ministry to get clearance for sand mining in accordance with the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification.Those who attended the meting included roads and buildings minister Dharmana Prasada Rao, principal secretaries of mines and geology, irrigation and panchayat raj departments.