Sand supply has become a source of concern again for builders across Vijayawada city. Although a major part of the city has been denotified as non-containment area, builders claimed that the sand portal of APMDC is not accepting orders from Vijayawada city stating that it is a containment area.
The large number of daily labourers in the city is depended on the real estate sector. Most of them lost their livelihood owing to the the lockdown, which brought constructions to a grinding halt. But recently, the state government exempted several sectors from the lockdown to boost business activity. Consequently, construction work in rural areas and green zones picked up.
But the picture is the opposite in the city. Despite only seven containment zones being notified in Vijayawada, sand supply has been stalled across the city.
“Sand shortage has badly affected the construction industry. We are feeding hundreds of migrant workers from Chhattisgarh who came to work at our site. The government is not permitting us to book sand online. It is showing Vijayawada as a red zone. The Telangana government is supplying sand even in containment zones and promoting construction activity,” said R V Swamy Credai Vijayawada unit president.
“We have submitted a representation to the district and state authorities and waiting for their approval. The government should respond immediately and allow online sand booking for non-containment areas in Vijayawada. This is because a few middlemen have already started making money by taking advantage of the situation in the city. Special action teams had seized a few tractors transporting sand illegally recently. Builders are requesting the mining authorities and special action teams to take stringent action against such middlemen,” he added.
Meanwhile, mining authorities have begun shifting sand to the stockyards to meet the demand during monsoon.
