Infrared shot of a dune. Captions and Photo source : ©© Irargerich
Excerpts;
At the unearthly hour of 4am on Thursday, Krishna Nagar area near Jubilee Hills bustled with activity with a convoy of sand laden lorries parked on either side of the road and eager customers, comprising builders, masons, plot owners making a beeline negotiating the best deal for a full or half lorry of sand. The midnight-to-morning sand market (a routine feature every night) had customers jostling and haggling for the best deal, some even indulging in panic buying with traders hard selling that sand supply from neighbouring states would stop in a few days…
Traders at these sand markets admit that the ban has worked in their favour as they have more than doubled the price, making a better profit now.
“The cost of regular sand until recently was Rs 750 per ton but is now being sold for Rs 1,700 per ton. Fine sand that was sold for Rs 800 per ton is now going for as much as Rs 2,000 per ton…
… And sky is the limit for a ton of sand.”
