Nellore: Supply sand for irrigation, other priority projects

Nellore: District Collector M V Seshagiri Babu directed the officials to allow sand supply for irrigation works in the district on a priority basis. Conducting a review meeting with the officials here on Monday, he said Atmakur High-Level Canal requires 50,000 tonnes of sand for the construction works and asked the officials to permit 10 trucks per day for avoiding delays in the works.

He also said construction of Rythu Bharosa Centres, Village Health Clinics and works under Naadu-Nedu should be given top priority for allocating sand. He also directed them to supply sand to those people who booked sand online.

Gangadhar Reddy, an official connected to sand distribution, informed to the Collector that there was availability of 10 lakh tonnes of sand in the entire district and currently 62,000 tonnes of stocks are ready for distribution. For Naadu-Nedu works, out of the required stocks of 3,900 tonnes, they had already shipped 2,000 tonnes, he said. Further, 50,000 tonnes of sand were also provided for the works under MGNREGS.

Further, the Collector directed the officials of the industries department to check safety issues before restarting the units. He asked the gas dealers to check the safety of stock points and distribution centres for preventing any LG Polymers like incidents. As per directions of the State government, he said officials of the industries department have to conduct inspections in the industries on safety aspects.

The industries also need to maintain registers on the safety measures and the officials have to check them whether they are proper or not. Safety committees have to be formed with Fire Safety, Police, Electricity, and Panchayat Raj departments and start inspections from June, Collector directed. Seshagiri Babu warned that they would initiate severe action against the industries if they fail to beef up safety measures in the units within 15 days.

SP Bhaskar Bhushan, senior officials from the industries department Parameswara Rao, Maruthi Prasad, Executive Engineer from the APPCB Pramod Kumar Reddy, and others were present.