AP to fund women self help groups, village bodies for sand mining

Hyderabad, Oct. 27:  

The Andhra Pradesh Government has decided to provide a Rs. 5 lakh loan to village organisations from banks for sand mining and sale which has been entrusted to women self help groups.

The women self help groups of DWCRA (Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas) started sand mining and sale as part of Pedarikam Pai Gelupu (victory over poverty) campaign.

The State Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has decided that a loan of Rs. 5 lakh would be provided to each Village Organisation through bank linkages for sand mining and sale.

At a meeting with AP Mineral Development Corporation and other departments, the Chief Minister said that DWCRA women should be motivated to work as if they are running their own organisation. This will enable them to make the sand sale a robust business and reap profits.

The Chief Minister added that eight women could be chosen from local self help group or Village organisation. They could work in two shifts, four in each shift, to monitor operations.

The Chief Minister was informed that consumers could order for sand online by registering with their Aadhar number through Mee Seva or through website. The consumer can pay the amount online through a bank transaction.

He added that the consumer could be informed about the status or movement of vehicle carrying sand by continuously monitoring it through GPS tracker from the control room at the stock point centre.

Naidu suggested that closed circuit television (CCTV) and global positioning system (GPS) trackers and other installations could be outsourced to support the sand mining and sale. This would help the outsourcing agency monitor operations without any discrepancies.

Of the 81 identified sand reaches in the State, sale of sand has begun in 70 of them. Eleven reaches (four of them in Odisha, one in Karnataka, four in Puducherry and two in Telangana) are inter-State sharing sites.

In a pilot project carried out in East Godavari district, 1.9 lakh cubic metres of sand has been excavated. Of this, 40,000 cubic metres has been sold and has fetched Rs. 2.95 crore.

The Chief Minister said 75 per cent of this amount would be transferred to Farmers’ Empowerment Corporation.