During TDP Chief and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s government, his introduction of the free sand policy was seen as a move that could make sand available to people and remove anomalies in the state. However, over the last five years, this very sand policy came to bite the TDP government in its back.
The sand policy became a tool for local TDP MLAs and leaders to exploit it as much as possible where there were allegations of severe corruption by these leaders. It was also brought to Chandrababu’s notice several times that the local TDP cadre were involved in large-scale corruption.
However, the mismanagement of sand mining and its sale had gone beyond the control of the TDP High Command where it got the government also a bad name. From having reports of mining sand at reaches which were not approved by the government to creating artificial sand scarcity and charging exorbitant transport fares for sand, this policy was exploited by all means.
Despite the policy having clauses to ensure transparency, the long wait to procure sand made it worse for buyers as they had to go to private players to buy sand at higher rates. The result, however, proved to be disastrous for TDP as several party leaders and minister were openly accused of corruption and having colluded with the sand mafia in the state.
For reasons known and unknown, this policy which was seen as making sand affordable and was seen as a great move during its inception, became the worst one for TDP!
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