Gulte News
The opposition parties Telugu Desam and JSP have been alleging sand mafia against YS Jagan’s YSRC government in AP. YS Sharmila also made a similar statement after entering AP politics as she said the YCP government is not bothered on development but is heavily interested in the sand and liquor mafia. In tune with these allegations, a leading media tabloid in the Telugu states has reported that sand is being on a per kilo basis in AP.
This report says that a kilo of sand is being sold for 2 rupees in many constituencies in Andhra Pradesh. Allegedly, several important leaders in YCP are looking after the sand mafia and collecting the revenue generated by billing the common public for sand on a per-kilo basis.
This report claims that the common public is petrified by the idea of building or remodeling houses due to the prices they have to pay to procure sand, which is available in abundance in nature, but is being sold through a syndicate turns a costly affair.
Sand is seen as an essential commodity as it is freely available in nature and can be utilized by everyone, ideally, free of cost. But in Vizag, Paderu, Madugula, Chodavaram, Yarragondapalem, and other constituencies, the sand costs Rs 2 per kilo, inclusive of transport charges.
This shocking report adds that despite the free availability of sand at the Krishna River in Vijayawada, the government is pricing the sand at mentioned rates. Apart from that, an additional Rs 725 has to be paid per tonne for certain individuals.
All these years, the public could procure sand at a very nominal name-sake price from catchment areas like Godavari, Penna, Vamsadhara, Krishna, and Nagavali.
It has now reached the stage where a kilo of sand is being sold at Rs 2, taking the per-tonne price to Rs 2000 and the additional formality prices are additional, the report reveals. The price varies between Rs 1.43 – 2 per kilo based on constituency to constituency. But if the additional charges are added, the price will go up steeply. It has to be seen how the commercialization of sand sales will affect the polling trends.
