Maha Cabinet clears sand policy; five brass to be provided free for various housing schemes

As per the Cabinet decision, five brass of sand will be provided free of cost to beneficiaries or houses under various schemes, and the sale of sand will be done through auction instead of the depot method. (Brass is used to quantify the volume of materials like sand, gravel or rubble.) The sand from the river and creek basins will be excavated, stored and sold online through auction.

According to the government release, 10 per cent of the sand from each sand block excavated through auction will be made available free of cost to various household beneficiaries up to 5 brass. In addition, the sand will also be made available to the villagers for their individual and collective works and to farmers for the construction of wells.

Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule told reporters that considering the environmental importance of natural sand and its scarcity, artificial sand (M-sand)will be encouraged.

He said that for this, initially, it will be made mandatory to use 20 per cent artificial sand in various government/semi-government constructions. Artificial sand will be made mandatory in these constructions in the next three years.

"Apart from river and creek sand, the government will promote the use of sand (M-sand) made from crushed stone. M-sand can be used by Public Works and Irrigation Departments for construction purposes. To reduce the dependence on river sand, we will provide subsidies to M-sand manufacturers," said the minister.

He added that as per the sand policy, after the permission of the Environment Department, a single e-auction will be published for all the sand blocks in the river basin under the jurisdiction of each sub-divisional officer of the district.

"The duration of this auction will be for two years. Also, for each sand group identified by the Maharashtra Maritime Board for the sand groups in the bay, an e-auction process will be conducted. The duration of this auction will be three years," he said.

According to the government release, sand blocks will be reserved for sand mining using the traditional method of hand-dug-dug and will be allocated under the non-bid licensing system.

It said that if sand accumulates in farmland due to flood conditions or other natural causes, the sand will be removed to make such farmland suitable for cultivation again.

It added that a royalty of Rs 200 per brass will be levied for sand/sand extracted from overburden in Central and state government mines, and Rs 25 per brass for other minor minerals. Also, sand coming from other states will be controlled. The penalty of Rs 1 lakh has been retained for illegal transportation of minor minerals by tractor.

Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule in the recently concluded Budget session had told the legislature that the Revenue Department has studied the sand policies of various states and drafted a policy, which has been made available in the public domain.

"The department has received several suggestions and objections. The goal of this policy is to balance demand and supply and eliminate illegal sand smuggling," the minister said.