Coimbatore | July 06, 2017: The online sale of river sand has curtailed supply from private players, construction contractors and realtors associations have alleged. The supply has fallen from 40,000 loads of sand to 4,000 per day.

On the other hand, the supply of M-sand (manufactured sand) is limited as there are not more than 12 manufacturers in the region. Addressing a press conference her on Tuesday, president of the Builders Association of India, Coimbatore, K Rajavel said, "Earlier the cost of one load (275cubic feet) was Rs 12,000, and now it costs us Rs 35,000. While we are with the state government in trying to regularise the sale of river sand, we urge the chief minister to regularise the manufacturing of M-sand too."

In Coimbatore, the total capacity for manufacturing M-sand is 50 loads, said president of the Coimbatore Civil Engineers Association R Karthick. "This is not enough to meet the demand in Coimbatore. Other states are manufacturing M-sand in large quantities and it is better than using river sand," he said. "M-sand is cheaper (Rs 2,000 for 100 cubic feet) and it also dries quickly," he added.

Realtors from the city cannot purchase M-sand from neighbouring states as the Mines Act prevents them from doing so. "So the only way to meet our demands is to improve the production capacity of the district and the state. For this, the state government should take steps to regularise the licensing process," said Rajavel.

Setting up a manufacturing unit for M-sand requires about 5 acres of land and Rs 3-5crore investment on equipment and labour, depending on the capacity. "There is enough space available for mining. And about 100 people from the district are willing to set up manufacturing facilities if the state passes a government order," said Karthick.

According to the realtors, chief minister Edapaddi K Palanisami has promised to look into the matter. "In 2011-12, the then chief minister J Jayalalithaa announced that M-sand can be used for construction of offices and PWD projects," said Karthick.

The realtors said they were facing problems obtaining permissions for mining, environmental clearances and power permissions.

To bring the attention of the state government to their demands, the associations will organise a rally from the Womens' Polytechnic College to VOC Park and meet collector T N Hariaharan and place their demands.

(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)