Naidu Faces Allegations of Irregularities in Implementing Free Sand Policy 

Amaravati: Former chief minister and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu has been accused of violating the Free Sand Policy. The Andhra Pradesh State Crime Investigation Department (APCID) has filed a fresh case against the Opposition leader and named him as an accused number 2 (A-2) in the case. 

Former minister in the TDP regime, Mines and Geology Minister Peethala Sujatha, and former MLAs Chintamaneni Prabhakar and Devineni Umamaheswara Rao are also facing allegations in connection with the irregularities in the free sand policy. 

It is alleged that Naidu, his then Cabinet colleague and MLAs from the specific sand reach areas and others significantly benefited out of the free sand policy. The CID stated in its FIR that the free sand policy was implemented by the then government without following due procedures and this resulted in loss of thousands of crores of rupees to the state exchequer. 

The YSRCP government has brought in transparency in the mining and supply of sand leaving no room for corruption. In two years, the state government earned Rs 770 crores by supplying the sand in a transparent manner. This shows that the former chief minister Naidu allegedly misappropriated nearly Rs 1,000 crores by mining and supplying the sand by violating the guidelines. 

In 2015, when the Musunuru MRO Vanajakshi attempted to stop the illegal supply of sand, the then TDP MLA Chintamaneni Prabhakar allegedly manhandled her. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) rapped the former chief minister for allowing the sand mining near CM’s residence in Karakatta without environmental clearance. Despite the tribunal’s criticism, the state properly continued to be plundered and looted. 

Soon after coming to power in 2014, the TDP government brought the sand reaches in the state under Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation Limited (APMDC). Naidu said as per the policy, sand mining was allotted to district and mandal mahila samakhyas (SHGs). 

In 2016, following the recommendations of a Cabinet Sub-commitee, the former government formulated the Sand Policy. The sand policy was again reviewed on the basis of a cabinet sub-committee report and approved by a Cabinet through a G.O. on January 15, 2016. After this, the sand mining contracts were issued on tender-cum-auction basis. Within two months, another G.O. 20 was issued which made the earlier G.O. of auctioning the sand reaches through the tender system redundant, and introduced the free sand policy in the state. 

The former chief minister made an announcement that the sand will be given free to the people of the state. The TDP government issued a memo 3066 without obtaining an approval from the state cabinet. The government issued another G.O. nos35 after the G.O. nos. 43. The latest G.O. was also not approved by the cabinet. During its investigation, the CID officials found that the file notings for the G.Os. were missing. The TDP regime is facing allegations for allowing the exploitation of sand reaches and not doing enough to check the indiscriminate mining of it. 

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