So, sand will cost the Earth now

HYDERABAD: People who are in the process of building their houses are likely to see the price of sand spiral sharply in the days to come. Vigilance & Enforcement (V&E) raids on illegal sand quarries around the state is likely to disrupt sand supplies to the city, much of it illegal. With  officials of V&E and mines and revenue departments going after sand smugglers, the mafia has abandoned its operations across the state.The real estate industry in the state capital is highly dependent on sand from Krishna, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar, Karimnagar and Medak districts. Each truckload of sand costs Rs 3,500- Rs 5,000 in the district of origin but fetches anywhere between Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 in Hyderabad. Nothing less than 400 trucks of sand supply the material to Hyderabad from these districts every day— about 150 from Vijayawada alone.As real estate companies in Hyderabad do not have access to sand reaches nearby, they have to depend on the mafia for sand supply. Similar is the case in Visakhapatnam where sand is supplied from illegal sand quarries in Pendurthi and surrounding areas.Sand mining permits in these districts had lapsed more than a year ago, and the district administrations could not conduct fresh auctions— for a variety of reasons. Only some temporary permissions were given to a couple of contractors to enable supply of sand for government buildings and Indiramma housing."The sand mafia has been exploiting the situation. The sand being used in many buildings in Hyderabad is supplied by the sand mafia indulging illegal sand mining,” sources in the real estate industry said.Revenue officials said the sand shortage would have a severe impact on the real estate industry.