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Amaravati, October 17 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Friday directed officials to take strict steps to prevent misuse of the free sand policy by some vested interests.
Reviewing the mining sector with officials at the Secretariat, the Chief Minister asked them to follow the “people first” principle in the implementation of the free sand policy.
As soon as the officials told the Chief Minister that 43 lakh tonnes of sand was available in the state, he directed the officials to tighten surveillance on sand smuggling by installing CCTV cameras on the state borders. He said that the free sand distribution system should be monitored through Real Time Governance Society (RTGS).
Officials told the Chief Minister that a target of revenue of Rs 3320 crore has been set from mining during the financial year 2025-26. He said that there is a possibility of getting 34 percent additional revenue from mines this year compared to last year. The maximum revenue through manganese will be 74 percent.
CM Chandrababu Naidu stressed the need for value addition of mining products. He said Odisha is getting Rs 50,000 crore from mining alone.
He was of the view that if a vision plan was developed, Andhra Pradesh could get additional revenue of Rs 20,000 to 30,000 crore. He directed officials to dispose of 6,500 pending applications for mining leases.
The Chief Minister directed officials to prepare guidelines for leasing out 15 percent of the mines to the Vaddera community. He said that the Vaddera community should be given 50 per cent subsidy in seigniorage and premium to upgrade to set up MSMEs.
He said the authorities should verify the possibility of supplying raw material to the Kadapa Steel Plant.
He stressed the need to use technology to monitor mining activities. He said satellite images and drones should be used for analysis on mining.
Mining Minister Kollu Ravindra and officials were present.
–IANS
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