HYDERABAD: The construction industry has taken a hit with the prices of fine sand going abnormally high in the city, almost by ₹1,000 per tonne.
One of the essential materials for the realty sector, the fine sand which used to be available for ₹1,200 to ₹1,600 per tonne now costs ₹2,200 to ₹2,500 per tonne depending on the grade. With this, the cost of the sand per tipper lorry, which carries nearly 25 tonnes, has increased from around ₹35,000 to ₹55,000-₹60,000.
Addl burden on buyers
Since river sand is mostly used in the construction activities, whether it is an independent house or apartment, high prices will ultimately put a burden on buyers. “For an independent house or 2-BHK flat, it requires around 20 to 25 loads of sand. Buyers investing in 2 BHK or small houses will be impacted because the spike in sand prices will put an additional burden of up to ₹2 lakh on them,” Telangana state realtors association president N Praveen said.
According to sand suppliers, their business has come down as buyers or builders are not willing to buy the sand at high prices. “River sand is the most essential ingredient among building materials and if the prices go up, it will hit small and medium scale buyers very hard,” said Sridhar, a city based sand supplier, adding that the state govt should intervene in the matter and resolve whatever issues are impacting sand prices
Artificial shortage?
According to Telangana State Mineral Development Corporation (TSMDC) officials, except in a few places in Kothagudem, Khammam and Bhadrachalam, the sand operations are normal and there is no impact in stocking and loading.
In Mulugu district, a sand loading of 10,000 tonnes is being registered everyday while in Bhupalpally, it is close to 20,000 tonnes a day which is a regular activity.
“To cash in on the demand, some suppliers might have created artificial shortage in the market and deliberately increased the prices,” said an official.
Sand is supplied from places like Bhadrachalam, Kothagudem, Mulugu, Kaleshwaram, Bhupalpally, Karimnagar and Mancherial along the Godavari river. Earlier, the city used to receive around 15,000-18,000 tonnes of sand in 500 lorries daily which has now come down to 6,000 to 8,000 tonnes in 200 lorries, say suppliers.
Another city-based sand supplier, E Ramana, said that lorries are not being allowed via Mulugu and Bhupalpally due to Samakka and Saralamma jathara in Medaram and drivers are forced to go to Kaleshwaram and Bhadrachalam via Karimnagar which is consuming a lot of diesel and resulting in lower profits.
Govt yet to clear bills
“There are eight sand reaches in Bhadradri-Kothagudem where sand is lifted and put in stock yards by tribal societies. Since the government has to clear ₹80 crore of pending bills in the last two years, societies are not loading the sand from four to five reaches. With this, buyers are finding it difficult to procure sand from this district. On an average, each reach records 2,000 tonnes of sand in our district,” said a TSMDC officer.
