Mineral Corporation officials draw flak for failing to curb illegal sand mining in Chennur

The Telangana Mineral Development Corporation is facing criticism for allegedly failing to curb illegal sand mining and transportation from a Godavari river quarry in the Chennur constituency, with irregularities including diversion of sand consignments and collection of illegal charges

Mancherial: Telangana Mineral Development Corporation (TGMDC) is drawing flak for allegedly failing to curb illicit mining and transportation of sand from the Godavari River at an official quarry in the Chennur Assembly constituency, resulting in huge revenue loss to the government.

Corporation officials are facing criticism for remaining silent even as sand is transported to destinations different from those mentioned in waybills. They are also accused of allowing operators of official sand reaches to collect special charges for loading more sand than the permitted quantity in trucks. The inaction of the officials is said to be causing losses to the exchequer, which is already reeling under a financial crisis.

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In a recent incident, ten sand-laden lorries were caught by police while dumping sand at a thermal power plant owned by Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) at Jaipur, Mancherial district instead of transporting it to Vengwapet in Nirmal district as specified in the waybills. Drivers of the trucks were booked for allegedly cheating officials. The sand was transported from a quarry identified by the government at Chintapalli village, Kotapalli mandal under the Chennur segment.

Similarly, the authorised contractor of the quarry is reportedly collecting a ‘tax’ of Rs. 1,000 from the owner of each truck for filling the vehicles with additional sand. Supervisors at the quarry openly admitted to collecting the charge, claiming they could make profits from operating the quarry only if the illegal levy was imposed. Truck owners regretted that they were incurring losses.

It is also alleged that the contractor was mining sand from a location different from the one permitted by the department due to lack of supervision by officials. It is learnt that officials register cases against the contractor and truck owners only when certain irregularities are exposed by the media. The officials are now under the scanner for failing to curb illegal mining and transportation of sand.

TGMDC officials were not available for comment. On the other hand, Labour Minister Dr G Vivek, who represents the Chennur constituency, claimed that steps were being taken to check the menace.