The Andhra Pradesh government has announced that a "sand week" would be conducted from November 14 to 21 to solve the sand crisis in the State.
During a review meeting, Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy said that previously the average sand demand was 80,000 tons per day. Due to floods and the sinking of the Reaches, this demand could not be met.
But over the past week the situation had improved considerably, and the mining had increased to 1.20 lakh tonnes per day, he claimed. The number of Reaches had also increased from about 60 to over 90 in the past week, he added.
He also said that the mining capacity would be increased from 1.2 lakh tonnes to 2 lakh tonnes in the coming week, and that the stock points would go up from 137 to 180 by the time the Sand Week was over.
A rate card should also be fixed based upon the constituencies, he said.
Jagan also gave strict instructions that if anyone violating norms would be sent to jail for two years, instead of just a paltry penalty being imposed on him or the sand being seized. He said that a Cabinet approval for this would be taken in a meeting tomorrow.