Hyderabad: Due to the precarious financial position of the Telangana government, many contractors bemoan the pile-up of unpaid bills. Eerily, sand mining contractors can count themselves ‘lucky’; for, they have made consumers ‘bakras’ for their unpaid bills and started extorting money from them under the nose of the Telangana Mineral Development Corporation (TGMDC).

For understandable reasons, the TGMDC has remained a spectator so far to the blatantly illegal activities of river sand quarrying contractors across the state. Therefore, sand quarrying contractors are extorting consumers with impunity. “Sand quarry contractors and their staff are forcibly collecting a whopping Rs 5,000-6,000 ‘extra’ for every load of sand.

This has been going on for the past several weeks. Those who purchase sand from TSMDC pay around Rs 14,000 (i.e. officially) for sand transported by a 32-tonne truck. Above that, we are being forced to pay the extra amount to staff at the loading site for every trip,” a distraught customer told ‘The Hans India’.The TSMDC operates sand quarries across Jayashankar Bhupalpally, Badradri-Kothagudem, Mancherial, and in several other districts of Telangana.

However, this pernicious practice of collecting extra money is prevalent in Mahadevpur mandal of Bhupalpally district, which has multiple sand quarries along the River Godavari. Besides, Medigadda and Annaram barrages of the controversial Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) are also located in this mandal. More than 400 trucks carry sand from the Mahadevpur area daily.

The practice of collecting extra amounts is so rampant that a group of persons, claiming to be from the Forest Department, have even set up a ‘toll gate’ and have started collecting Rs 200 additionally per lorry.

Aggrieved consumers say this practice of collecting huge extra amounts at different stages of the transport has since spread to other sand quarries in other districts. Normally, river sand operations generate substantial revenues for the state government. However, the errant contractors’ blatant illegal practices are bringing disrepute to the government for its seeming inability to rein in them. River sand consumers are seeking immediate action to curb the widespread malpractices in river sand operations.

“Staff at loading sites are demanding extra money. If we add other expenses, the total extra amount consumers pay comes to more than Rs 6,000 per trip. This is a huge burden as the amount is over and above what consumers pay for sand,” said Bhukya Naik, a sand lorry operator from Hyderabad. He underlined the need for the government’s immediate intervention to curb the malpractice. When confronted, the staff at loading sites, claim that contractors are not getting payments from the government, and hence, they have “no other option expect collecting the extra amount”.