TADEPALLI: Andhra Pradesh government announced that the "Sand Week" would be conducted from November 14th to 21st, to overcome sand crisis in the State.

The announcement was made on Tuesday during a review meeting held by the Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy along with the officials on the sand crisis. Speaking at the meeting, he said that previously, the average sand demand was 80 thousand tonnes. Due to flooding and sinking of the Reaches, this demand could not be met. Now over the past week, the situation has improved considerably and the mining has increased to 1.20 lakh tonnes on a daily basis. The number of Reaches has also increased from about 60 to over 90 in the past week, he said.

The officials also said that the mining capacity would be increased from 1.2 lakh tonnes to 2 lakh tonnes in the coming week. The Chief Minister also directed officials to increase stock points from 137 to 180. In addition, by the time the Sand Week is over the stock points should be increased to 180, he said. A rate card should also be fixed based upon the constituencies', he said.

YS Jagan also gave strict instructions that if any one sells sand in excess, then the person should levied a jail term of two years, instead of a paltry penalty sum or seizure of sand. He also said a Cabinet approval for this would be taken in a meeting which will be held tomorrow.

The other highlights from the meeting include:

District wise rate cards to be distributed across the state
No official should take holidays until the sand crisis is over
Sand mining and marketing officials must work without taking holidays
Checkpoints should be placed in small & large routes across the areas
Video cameras CC cameras should be installed within 10 days

YS Jagan said that the strict action should be taken by the Collectors, SPs, R&B and AP MDC officials, if anyone is caught smuggling or selling sand beyond the price announced by the government.