Transition prolongs sand supply woes in Visakhapatnam

Shortage triggers migration of workers to other States

With the new sand policy of the government still not in place, it’s a testing transition time for the construction sector. For six months now, sand supply has been going through a rough patch, and it got worse in the last two months.

The worst hit are construction workers. Sources in the real estate sector say most of them have either left for their villages, or to the neighbouring States of Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka for work.

In Visakhapatnam district alone, five lakh workers have been affected because of the severe short supply of sand, according to president of A.P. Building Construction Workers’ Union Padala Ramana. Labourers are desperate for work that will fetch them even ₹.100 a day instead of the ₹.400 in normal course.

He demanded that the A.P. Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board should pay some relief to help workers tide over the crisis.

Others too hit

When work comes to a halt, besides construction labourers electricians, plumbers and painting workers are also affected, says M. Srinivas, a builder.

His building of eight units at Srinivasa Nagar came to a halt because he could not take up flooring work. Sand being transported from neighbouring Odisha costs an exorbitant ₹50,000 for 32 to 35 tonnes, instead of the normal ₹18,000 to ₹20,000.

"Most of the 2,000 to 3,000 projects covering around 25,000 units in and around the city have come to a standstill and only 10 % of them are able to continue work," says CREDAI Visakhapatnam Chapter president B. Srinivasa Rao.

Authorities informed

The issue was represented to District Collector V. Vinay Chand in the presence of Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha member M.V.V. Satyanarayana, himself a former CREDAI Chairman, and Tourism Minister Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao.

The Collector had spoken to officials concerned and to his counterpart in Srikakulam, and during the last three days supply improved, he said. But against the requirement of 300 lorries of sand per day, only 20 are received, he says.

Even that supply is being stopped in spite of having permission, he said citing the instance of two lorries from Srikakulam being seized by the police at Bhogapuram.

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