Sand taxies in Telangana from today

The new sand taxi system would come into force in Telangana from Thursday, an initiative of the government to curb sand mafia and supply sand at affordable rates.

In the new system, consumers must book for sand taxis through Mee Seva centres and the material would be supplied in tractors.  Charges would be collected on the basis of distance. Each tractor would be allowed to supply 3 cubic metres of sand.

The government would also launch online booking system and a toll-free number to enable people book sand over phone.The tractors should be registered with the mandal revenue office (MRO) for the purpose.

Tractor owners would have to deposit Rs 10,000 with MRO and instal GPS on the vehicle to enable tracking and



ensuring delivery to the correct address.Tractors diverting sand or resorting to any other irregularities would be seized by the government and owners would forego their deposit.

The government would identify sand reaches and tractors would be allowed to pick sand only from those points. CCTV cameras would be installed at the sand reaches and integrated with the central server in mines department head office in Hyderabad.

Minister K.T. Rama Rao had held a series of meetings with department officials for the past one month to fina-lise sand taxi system. 

Mr Rama Rao said, “The initiative will be launched on February 1, and will be implemented on a full scale in all the districts by February 8.”