OPEN LETTER TO AP CM GARU ON FREE SAND POLICY AND ITS GROUND REALITIES

OPEN LETTER TO AP CM GARU ON FREE SAND POLICY AND ITS GROUND REALITIES

To,

Sri Nara Chandrababu Naidu Garu,                                                                               01.12.2018

Hon’ble Chief Minister, GoAP,

Velagapudi,

Amaravathi, Andhra Pradesh

Respected Sir,

We hail from a village by name Kollipara, Tenali division in Guntur district and migrated to Hyderabad in 1987. Though ours is reasonably well established family in Hyderabad, after bifurcation of the state, we started showing interest in AP and shifted our investments including contribution to land pooling in Amaravathi. I personally took interest in activating our agricultural operations, made investments in Agri related business and constructed new house with plans to settled down in Kollipara in near future, all these with love for motherland. These made me to frequent our village (almost 5 to 6 days in a month) and an opportunity to get back to roots. With my meaningful interactions with local farmers coupled with interest in resolving community issues, flair for socio political administration, access to bureaucracy and political system, my domain knowledge in Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, very soon I could gain their confidence. The community started looking at me as a well-wisher and good help in resolving local issues.

SAND DE-CASTING AT POTTIDIBBA LANKA, DEVARAPALLI, THOTLAVALLURU MANDAL, KRISHNA:

In July, 2017, some farmers approached me with an issue of sand de-casting in patta lands at Pottidibba Lanka and impressed upon me by explaining how such operations are dangerous to lanka lands and ran me through the history of the island and the extent of the land got eroded into river Krishna during floods. I quickly got into action, gone through the GOs, the orders issued, processes followed and established with substantial evidences as to how the spirit of the policies was misused. The moment I got into action, the sand syndicates tried to pressurize me by using big names and even your good offices.

Various tactics and methods were tried on farmers, who lodged complaint with the Collector. Nothing shattered our confidence and we could get the quarry operations suspended on temporary basis followed by subsequent cancellation orders.  Unfortunately some senior officers, whose prime responsibility is to implement the policies in letter and spirit, to safeguard the interests of the farmers and ultimately the ecosystem, tried all sorts of tactics to divert the issue by provoking the farmers and turn the issue into a law and order problem. Farmers conducted themselves in dignified manner, gave a smile as a reply to all sorts of provocations and came out successful.

SAND DE-CASTING AT BHRAMANADIBBA, DEVARAPALLI, THOTLAVALLURU MANDAL, KRISHNA:

Exactly after a year from the previous incident, in August, 2018, another syndicate surfaced in the same area at Devarapalli village, Totlavalluru Mandal, Krishna District.  This time their approach was in threatening mode using the names of a minister from Godavari district and some senior officers. The local MRO, mandal surveyor, VRO who are expected to serve the farmers, assumed the roles of frontline representatives of the syndicate and harassed farmers with all sorts of tricks by indicating that  they are very powerful, they have blessing of Velagapudi and no one can stop this file, so it is better to yield rather than to fight etc. The MRO issued an NOC without having consent of neighboring farmers, and without conducting or consulting a grama sabha.

 The team consisting of Joint Collector-II, AE-Mines, AD-Agriculture, EE-Irrigation, DE-River conservation, MRO and others visited the site in September, 2018. In fact during that time downstream Krishna was flooded and they came by cars to some point, and then used multiple transports – Auto, walking, bullock cart to reach the site.  I am sure, if there was any outbreak of diseases in such remote area; none of them would have visited and even disobeyed collector orders quoting some excuses. This is an example of the massive power of these syndicates in our political- administrative system. They can move anyone to any place in any situation. Honestly, if these officers drawing huge salaries and placed in the roles to serve people can spare 20 % of their time sincerely for the purpose for which they were recruited, the nation can do wonders.

I am equally or even more determined and made it a point to ensure that farmers gathered at the proposed quarry express their concerns and highlight the mistakes committed by revenue department in giving NOC. We quickly drafted the petition, submitted it to the Collector, JC-1, JC-2, AD- Mines, AD- Agri and a host of other officers concerned with the subject.   I could successfully prevent this operation using my analytical ability of the issue, presenting the same to authorities with confidence and certainly with targeted lobbying. I was told, still the field visit report is not submitted and decision is kept pending. It is better to close such issues, so that the farmers live with peace, otherwise once in a while these syndicates are sending feelers that they could get orders to re- start operations.

FREE SAND QUARRY AT KOLLIPARA, GUNTUR DIST:

Recently in October, 2018, the issues related to free sand quarry, supposed to be under the supervision of MRO, Kollipara was brought to my notice. MRO, instead of safeguarding the interest of people, recorded the conversation, took photo of a complainant and shared the same with local leaders who are running the quarry. The bridge at Kollipara on Repalle canal is over 60 years old and became very weak. If anything happens to the bridge, it will have severe impact on farmers’ daily operations. Some socially concerned youth stopped overload sand load tractors passing through the bridge as a protest for 10-15 minutes. This was projected as a revolt against authority and local police was literally pressurized to book cases on these youth. With good sense, I could prevail and avoided any possible tense situation.

  

As for free sand policy if any local villager needs sand for his own construction, MRO has to give him permission to lift sand with his own or hired manpower and tractor. When one farmer approached with such request, instead of honoring it with due respect, he was threatened with dare consequences. Again with good sense I could prevail and ensured that issue is resolved amicably. The temporary road formed in river by farmers with their own funds to reach lanka lands is forcibly put into sand transport operations against farmers’ wishes. Though there is provision in free sand policy to draw NREGS funds to provide temporary road from quarry to nearby road point, farmers were put to trouble by MRO.   With daily operations of 400 to 500 tractor loads, overloading, nuisance of loudspeakers etc, the villagers got disgusted and very quickly it turned out to be larger village issue.

With field observations, it is found that the allotted area of three acres boundaries is crossed and now the disturbed area is to the extent of nearly 30 to 40 acres. Permissible depths are not followed and the river course is disturbed. The quantity of sand extracted and lifted till now would easily be more than 20 times the quantity allowed as per the Collector order. A Petition was drafted and ensured that it was submitted to Collector on grievances day. Clout was used to ensure immediate geologist and his team visit followed by spot temporary suspension of operations. Within couple of days AD, Mines visited and recommended to Collector for closure of the quarry.

During AD, Mines inspection, farmers clearly expressed that they are not against the Government or Government policies; rather they welcome free sand policy and requested the Government to implement policies as stated in the approval letters, so that no one is put to inconvenience. They clearly explained the roles of mandal steering committee and proved how the concerned authorities failed in delivering their duties. They demanded that the Government should impose fines, proceed with disciplinary actions on erring officers, so that these will not be repeated again and again.  Local leaders, who were getting huge benefits by taking control of quarry from MRO and making a fast buck by excess charges, over loads, under payment to daily wagers etc tried to color it as an issue between daily wagers and farmers and escalated the issue to next levels. I could prevail and convince the system about the need for closure and it was a happy ending finally.

SIMILAR ISSUES AT PATHA BOMMUVARI PALEM, KOLLIPARA (M), GUNTUR DIST:

After seeing our successful efforts, farmers suffering with similar issues came forward and attended a meeting conducted by Kollipara villagers, which was attended by farmers across all political parties. A quick visit was made to Patha Bommuvari Palem village and understood the ground realities. The river is being exploited in this village continuously for the last four years or even before and total damage was done to the ecosystem and the river course etc. The excavations almost touched the lanka lands and even the village. If any flooding to the tune of 3 to 4 lakh cusecs happens in Krishna, there is a danger of agriculture fields and a portion of village getting eroded.  The issue was explained to them and on their request a petition was drafted and asked them to submit it in the Collector grievances cell.  None of the villagers came forward to make a complaint to the Collector on the issue. It is reliably learnt that some transactions happened with influential persons and the issue was sidelined. Meanwhile a few youths from the village got to know the situation through social media and approached us for support in taking it forward. After a week or so, they too developed cold feet and shared that they cannot go against the wishes of their elders.  

Simultaneously, we did enough ground work to get Collector’s attention to the issue and the administration was taken into confidence to come for inspection, once the petition is received in Collector grievances cell. With continuous persuasion by the youth from Kollipara, some individuals from the nearby villages of the quarry, came forward and submitted the petition on 19.11.2018. This time it was not an easy task to get the team for inspection, as the syndicate tried to stop every move using their influence. We were given vague answers like the petition is not traceable; staff is not available etc and tried to delay the process. Meanwhile the offtake of sand doubled from the quarries, creating more unpleasant situations. We restrained from any confrontation and at the same time with determined approach, got temporary suspension orders issued for patta land mining on 23.11.2018. Despite suspension orders, Lorries and proclainers were still there at site and on 25.11.2018 10 Lorries were loaded and tried to transport sand. Farmers duly brought it to the notice of the local government and it was stopped. If the local administration is sensitive to issues, these will not happen and farmers need not risk their lives. 

The sand excavation from free quarry is still continuing and mines department promised inspection on one of these days, which did not happen. The issue and its status were escalated further and geologist from mining department visited the site on 27.11.2018. The team went around the river, captured the ground realities, and commented that there is manifold exploitation, still reluctant to issue temporary suspension orders. They requested local farmers to give them two days’ time to take appropriate action, after reporting the facts to District Collector. On 28.11.2018, farmers sat on dharna after MRO escaped from the responsibility and stopped tractors movement till 4 PM and withdrew after getting assurance of action based on report submitted by mines department. Farmers collected data on sand movement, over charging from tractor loads, under payment to daily wagers and shared the same with authorities.

 On 29.11.2018, feelers are given to continue excavation under the cover of shortage of sand to weaker section housing which is totally baseless argument and scaled up the activity. We felt ditched and felt very bad for inconsistent approaches of local Government. They should have revealed the report and if our petition was false, action should have been initiated on us or implemented the report.  We decided to look for other options to escalate the problem further and decided to go for individual petitions from farmers and go for PIL option.  Well-meaning advocate from Hyderabad offered free service. We collected all required documents, photos and fully prepared to file PIL on next possible day.  We also collected recent high court stay order given on sand excavation in survey numbers 218A, 218B and confirmed that even this spot falls under same survey numbers. Quickly the information was shared with concerned authorities.

I could not sleep the whole night, as this issue was lingering and disturbing me. Lot of thoughts were making rounds in my brain. On 30.11.2018, early morning, all the points came to my mind were put in proper sequence and shared with the concerned officers and friends, seeking their action and support to the cause. Within two hours, we came to know that the local Government got intimation to put the quarry under suspension till further orders. It is reliably learnt that the syndicate is very powerful and have full control over local Government. Though there was some initial resistance, MRO could prevent tractors entry to quarry with support from police force and completely stopped the operations.   

We all have concern for the environment and at the same time equally concerned of construction industry and its important ingredient-SAND.  Let the line departments, such as river conservation, irrigation, mines, agriculture take all the factors into concurrence and implement the policy in letter and spirit, keeping the guidelines of river downstream in view.

AP Government free sand policy, 2016:

It is a very well drafted policy which is comprehensive in nature covering all aspects. The intentions behind the policy are very good and put into action with the sole objective of providing sand at affordable rate and at the same time arrest the losses to Government. The policy and implementation action plan have no role for local or state level political system and entire implementation is vested with administration with clearly defined responsibilities. Even in the sanction of quarries and deciding on the locations and extent there is no role for political system. Unfortunately on the ground the same policy is taking 180 degree turn with political system getting into unofficial implementation role and administration becoming mere spectators. The policy and how it is being abused in field are illustrated as under.

SAND EXCAVATION FROM FREE SAND QUARRIES:

What is mentioned in the order given	What is happening in reality
Free sand quarries in identified and approved sites, has to be under control of mandal steering committee consisting of Tahsildar, Sub Inspector of Police and Mandal Development Officer.	Steering committee is just on paper and the mining is happening under supervision of local political system
The boundaries of excavation site shall be fixed and flagged with clear indications and revenue staff has to be placed there to oversee the operations.	Boundaries are totally destroyed and revenue staff visit once in while
Tahsildar is authorized to utilize NREGS funds to create temporary road in river till regular road point and collect Rs.30/tractor and Rs.60/Lorry to recover the cost of the road and maintenance of road including watering at regular intervals.	The entire operation moved into the control of local political system.
Any local SHG groups, labour societies shall be given preference in manual excavation and loading into tractors. The rates are fixed as Rs100/cubic meter (Rs.300/tractor) if manual operations and Rs. 50/cubic meter (Rs150/tractor) if proclaimers are engaged. A proper receipt with amount is to be issued.	SHG / the societies are not in picture and operations are totally in control of local political system.  Rs. 500/- is being charged instead of Rs300/- for tractor. No receipt is issued.
If any local villager wants sand for his own house purpose and willing to use his own bullock cart or tractor with his own labour, MRO is supposed to issue trip slip to him by collecting only toll charges.	This is not being followed and if anyone ask for this facility they were threatened.
MRO is expected to monitor the quantity excavated and transported on daily basis and share the details with public on demand and maintain the account for quantity remaining to be lifted.	These are not maintained and there is no question of sharing the information with public.
Over loading, over speed, playing load speakers and any other issues related to public safety are to be assured.	Local Government is NOT bothered. On complaint RTO sent for inspection for a day and the system is not effective.
Irrigation, river conservation, Agriculture, revenue, police departments have to be taken into confidence by district sand committee under coordination of mining department.	There are no inspections or periodic checks from irrigation, river conservation departments. Looks like there are no reviews once order is given.
The sand permit is to be prominently displayed in Tahsildar office, Panchayat office for public to know about the facility and access the same.	Forget about the display, MRO refused to share the copy with local public
SAND DE-CASTING IN PATTA LANDS
What is mentioned in the order given	What is happening in reality
If the patta land in which decasting is proposed is already part of river course, the decasting permission can be only given after river conservator report	River conservator is giving reports without properly checking the fields, hence these problems are cropping up.
If it is on mainland, pattedar has to apply to district sand committee. Revenue department has to fix boundaries after survey and with due intimation and consent of neighboring farmers, conduct grama sabha and issue NOC if objections are not there.	MRO is totally violating these norms, locals are managed, Grama sabha are conducted on paper and NOCs are issued.
Agriculture department has to assess the depth of sand layers formed and give recommendations certifying that after decasting up to the recommended depth the virgin soil will resurface and land becomes suitable for agriculture.	Reports are given under heavy influence violating all the rules. If responsibilities are fixed stating that if the de-casted area is not fit for agriculture after operations are over,the officer responsible for giving the certification is punishable including jail term.Then no one will dare to give such reports.
Mining department has to certify and recommend for total quantity of sand to be removed.	Mining department is not bothered about other implications and giving certificates based on sand depth.
Irrigation department has to certify that these operations will not affect river course, will not have impact on ground water.	Actually 500 mts distance from main land is to be maintained if de-casting is in river, no one is following this rule. Irrigation department periodic inspections are not happening.
District sand committee has to examine the revenue NOC, recommendation of joint team visit, individual department reports and issue sanction orders	This is being followed but the cross checking of the information provided is not followed.
MRO is directed to monitor the site with boundaries, quantity lifted etc. AD, Agri, Irrigation, river conservation, Mines vigilance are supposed to monitor the operations with periodic visits.	None of these are followed.

SAND ISSUES IN AP- POLICY, IMPLEMENTATION AND TECHNOLOGY INTERFACE  

Though the policy is very transparent and people friendly, when it comes to implementation, it lacks direction, resulting in complicated administration and huge loss of public money.  Telangana state got nearly 3500 crores income by following the united AP sand policy, while making sand available at Andhra rates. The policy design looks to be loosely framed, resulting in scope for looting by local political system. When these activities come under the scope of panchayats under devolution, where is the need for steering committees? This would have been a good source of revenue for panchayats and they could have created checks and balances including addressing local agrarian issues. For complaints redressal the present mining vigilance shall be strengthened. It was observed that though there are various committees to whom the order copies are marked, none of them were given exposure to the operations, there were no steering committee meetings and periodic checks by line departments and entire operations are left to local political systems, who took full control over the quarries.

I was very happy when I heard public statements from none other than CM about misuse of sand policy, need to strengthen the operations to ensure free sand to all and clear directions given to book illegal sand miners under PD act. In fact in August, 2017, CM Garu in a press conference clearly stated about his vision for free sand and directed the team to implement the same without compromise.   Unfortunately the ground realities are different and present situation certainly needs the attention of Hon’ble CM.    

TECHNOLOGY INTERFACE:

AP is the most advanced state in India with the latest technologies introduced into governance and the entire state is monitored with measurable and functional indicators. Grievances at different levels, online complaining platforms- Kaizala, 1100, IVRS, interface with CM dashboard and total integration with real time governance are under implementation.

If these multi-layer technology platforms are not capturing these types of issues, problems faced by people, looting and exploitation of natural resources and abuse of ecosystem, there is something seriously wrong either with technology interface or with the analysis of data and its presentation. If all the above issues are captured, but filtered before presentation or the issues are not presented for resolving by incorporating bugs into the system, it amounts to serious administrative failure. Both situations are not good and certainly bring bad name.  Requesting your honour to get these verified, validated and ensure that proper implementation plan with no scope for manipulation is put into place. 

If the Government go for random sampling by engaging independent agencies on various government programs indicators, put the data to analysis and take corrective actions, it will be good for the state.

Request your honour to kindly advise the concerned officials to take this feedback positively, apply the same to other functional areas.  I feel good implementation plans with field level unbiased observations will bring qualitative change in the lives of people and certainly bring good name to the leader and Government.

We look forward to see these in implementation in the near future.

Thanking You Sir,

Yours Faithfully,

(B Guruva Reddy)

Kollipara village, 

Guntur Dist