Government starts distribution of sand shipped from Malaysia

CHENNAI: Trucks loaded with imported sand exited Kamarajar Port at Ennore on Monday and marked the maiden sale of the commodity sourced from abroad by the state government. The imported sand, however, failed to attract the construction sector. After the consignment arrived at the port in North Chennai a fortnight ago, only 40 bookings were made on its online portal.

Public Works Department (PWD) sources said on the the first day 30 lorries, which had booked for the sand, transported it from the port. While the government has fixed a rate of Rs 10,350 for one unit of imported sand measuring 4.5 tonnes, about 40 trucks had booked for the commodity online. Though the waiting period was three days, it has been cut down to one day. “Delivery of two to five sand units is allowed for every truck. There is no waiting time because the sand is available the next day for bookings made today,” a PWD official said.

Sand transporters charged that rampant availability of sand illegally mined from rivers in Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts was the major reason for poor response for the commodity. R Panneerselvam, president of the Federation of Tamil Nadu Sand Lorry Owners Coordination, said the government’s initiative would fail to woo buyers until stern action is taken against those engaging in illegal sand trade.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu State Sand Lorry Owner's Federation sought the PWD to allow trucks waiting in queue to scoop sand from quarries. “This is the need of the hour because 41,000 lorries that have registered with TN Sand in different sand quarries cannot register their vehicles for imported sand,” S Yuvaraj, the federation’s president, said.


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