Andhra Pradesh High Court firm on not lifting stay on sand mining

Exempts state-owned Singareni Collieries

The Andhra Pradesh High Court on April 12 refused to lift the stay it had imposed on sand mining and auction of sand reaches in the state. The court, however, exempted state-owned Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) from the stay order.The court rejected repeated requests made by advocate general A Sudarshan Reddy, who sought modification in the stay order. “The order of the apex court clearly states that the state governments now have to obtain nod from the Ministry of Environment and Forests before according leases for minor minerals. When this order is in force, how we can permit sand mining?” the court asked the advocate general.

The advocate general tried to convince the court saying the case before the apex court was about certain states which do not have any norms regarding the area to be mined. “Andhra Pradesh’s case is different as we have an Act in place in the form of the Andhra Pradesh Water, Land and Trees Act (APWALTA) of 2002, to regulate the area and we also have a mechanism to curtail malpractices.”

In response the court said, “If that is the case, then get a clarification from the apex court.”

Government is poor but contractors rich

The State Mines and Geology department auctioned 46 sand reaches last year of which 10 are operated by boatsmen societies. Boatsmen societies operate in Guntur, Krishna, East Godavari and West Godavari district. The Groundwater department’s clearance is not needed where boatsmen societies operate. Till 2006-07 sand mining was under panchayati raj department. After that, it came under the department of mines and geology. Since then the state’s revenue from sand mining is steadily increasing. The revenue mainly comes from auction and penalties for violating rules.

Though the revenue figures go up with every passing year, the exchequer suffers a huge loss due to the illegal sand mining. What the government gets for a cubic metre sand reach from which 1.6 tonnes of sand can be extracted is Rs 40, which is a pittance compared to the huge profit the contractors make from illegal mining.

Random raids by the vigilance and enforcement department on quarries across the state during the last two years revealed evasion of seigniorage amount to the tune of Rs 40 crore. According to the vigilance officials, evasion of seigniorage could be around Rs 100 crore annually.

Advocate general A Sudarshan Reddy on April 12 submitted a report to the court stating that the government has imposed penalties amounting to Rs 42 crore on 26 contractors for illegal sand mining and violating lease norms. Out of this, only about Rs 1 crore has been realised from the contractors so far.