Authorities to auction sand from dams

KOCHI: The District Administration has taken steps to auction the sand brought from the Malambuzha and Chulliyar dams. District Collector P I Sheik Pareeth said that the auction will take place on Tuesday.“We are making every effort to complete the process before the Chief Minister’s Public Interaction programme,” Pareeth said. The sand was brought after the cleaning of the dams. According to the sources, the quality of the sand has diminished considerably as it was left in open to fight the vagaries of nature. Even, weeds and shrubs have grown in the sand. Due to this, the plans are to auction the sand at a low price.Although, the authorities are planning to bid the sand as soon as possible, there are apprehensions since the last bid was not successful. A year back, a project titled ‘Kalavara’ was initiated by the district administration. It aimed at giving away the sand at a fair price to the people. Those who were registered under this project could contact the district administration. However, this scheme went awry as the demand for the sand was low owing to its inferior quality making it unfavourable for building purposes. When the scheme failed, the authorities decided to auction the sand but even that was not successful, said the sources.“An auction was conducted one and a half years back. However, it could not succeed as the highest bid was just Rs 45 lakh, which was very low compared to the cost incurred while transporting the sand from the dams. It cost about Rs 60 lakh to transport it,” the sources said. According to the officials of the irrigation department (major), there is 3768.5 cubic metre sand deposited in front of the Collectorate. This amount excludes the sand seized by the police.