Illegal mining in Andhra Pradesh | Caught in a sandstorm

With the Andhra Pradesh assembly polls less than a year away, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu has stepped up his attacks on the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP). The latest in that series of volleys is an alleged sand mining scam, an issue that keeps rearing its ugly head every few years in the state. Naidu has alleged that under the tacit support of chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, the sand mafia in the state has earned a whopping Rs 40,000 crore through illegal mining. On August 28, three days after Naidu claimed that he had evidence to support his claim, his party workers staged a statewide protest and identified 67 quarries where norms were being violated. The demonstrations eventually led to as many as 11 FIRs and over a hundred TDP leaders and cadres getting booked.The TDP claims that YSRCP leaders have not only become ‘wholesale dealers’ of sand and minor minerals, but that the government has also ignored the directives of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Supreme Court. On July 14 this year, the top court refused to annul a ban on sand mining imposed by the NGT in 2022. The SC ruling had come as a major blow to the Andhra Pradesh government. “The stay imposed by the NGT, especially on mechanised mining, and the apex court’s refusal to override the NGT order, vindicates the TDP’s stand,” Naidu told media last month. “Though there were only 110 sanctioned sand reaches in the state, mining continues unabated from more than 500 illegal ones,” he said, adding that under the YSRCP, nearly 400 million tonnes of sand was mined illegally. Further, he said, nearly 4 million construction workers lost their livelihood after the YSRCP government cancelled the free sand policy introduced during the TDP’s tenure in 2016, under which only transport and loading costs were passed on to buyers.Upon taking charge as chief minister in 2019, Jagan withdrew the policy and introduced a fresh scheme, under which the state-owned AP Mineral Development Corporation Ltd (APMDC) would undertake quarrying and supply on behalf of the government, and the price of sand was fixed at Rs 375 per tonne. What raises questions, though, was the fact that the YSRCP government subsequently handed over the contract for sand mining, storage and sale to the Jaypee Group’s Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd (JPVL), which had no experience in the field; that agreement expired on May 2 this year. The TDP further claims that JPVL passed on the contract to another company called Turnkey, which opted out of it in July 2022 following differences over profit-sharing. Since then, local YSRCP leaders have been making money through the sand mafia, competing with one another, the TDP says. The party also cites JPVL’s quarterly financial statement in July that the company submitted to the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange. “The report revealed that JPVL had hired sub-contractors. The government was in a state of denial until then,” says TDP spokesman Pattabhi Ram Kommareddy. THE TDP CLAIMS THAT UNDER YSRCP RULE, SAND MAFIA HAS EARNED NEARLY Rs 40,000 CRORE THROUGH ILLEGAL MINING IN THE STATE After nearly a week of conspicuous silence, the YSRCP government finally responded to these accusations on August 31. Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, the state minister of mines and geology, categorically stated that sand is being mined in a transparent manner, and that though the government had entrusted the activity only to JPVL, it had no links with the sub-contractors that JPVL roped in later.Counter-barbs were traded, too. The minister alleged that it was illegal mining during the TDP rule between 2014 and 2019 that had forced the NGT to impose a Rs 100 crore penalty on the government. He also accused Lokesh, Naidu’s son, of getting Rs 500 crore a year through the scam during the TDP rule. “Now, the government earns over Rs 750 crore a year on sand, while there was no revenue from it during the TDP term,” Reddy told media.Naidu has promised that if his party comes to power, it will order an inquiry into the loot and punish guilty officials. Given the escalating campaign, the least the YSRCP regime can do for now is come up with a more comprehensive explanation about the charges instead of just bandying words and hoping for the din to die down with time.Edited By: Aditya Mohan WigPublished On: Sep 7, 2023Must Watch

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