Telangana: Lorry owners’ association complains about irregularities in sand loading

State government suffering loss to the tune of Rs 2.30 crore on a daily basis, the association informs Principal Secretary

HYDERABAD: After different sections, now the Telangana Lorry Owners Association lodged a complaint over irregularities in sand loading at quarries and subsequent losses suffered by the State government.

The Association members charged that the contractors, who bagged the contracts under TGMDC, were indulging in corrupt practices. Accordingly, the State government was suffering a loss to the tune of Rs 2.30 crore on a daily basis, they said in a letter to the Principal Secretary.

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A copy of the letter had gone viral on social media platforms on Saturday. As per the TGMDC, a 14-wheel lorry makes a booking for carrying a load of 32 tonnes of sand and a 16-wheel lorry books for a load of 35 tonnes. However, at the sand quarries, the contractors’ staff were demanding Rs.2,500 bribe for loading. Further after demanding Rs.12, 000, each lorry was being overloaded with additional 28 to 30 tonnes, they said in the letter.

When the drivers refuse overloading, the contractors staff do not load the quantity of sand booked into the lorry. The Lorry owners association appealed to the government to take stern action against errant contractors and recover the unauthorized amount from them. They also suggested that the TGMDC adopt the Singareni practices. At Singareni, the loading was done through MT weighbridge and the same practice should be followed for sand loading as well, they said.

The Association also demanded the government to shelve the plans of changing the existing sand policy as it would be detrimental to the poor lorry owners and others involved in the sand transportation.