In view of the AP High Court's apprehensions on the dangerous ecological consequences of allowing indiscriminate sand quarrying, the state government on Tuesday informed the court of its plans to bring about a new sand policy.

In this new policy, the government provided for such provisions that require the authorities to mention in the auction notification the quantum of sand available in the proposed lease areas. The lease period would be fixed for one year or it would automatically end after the excavation of the notified quantum of sand before the expiry of the one year lease period. Several safeguards would be put in place to prevent excess quarrying. The villages under which these leases fall too would be made stakeholders in the proposed policy.

Mines and geology authorities would be required to prepare maps of sand reaches with scientific parameters. The sketches would be given to the contractors along with the lease deeds. Several penal clauses would also be proposed to punish the contractors in the event of their failure to pay the required fee amounts to the state government. Clauses would be introduced in the proposed policy to encash the bank guarantee furnished by the contractors in case they failed to fulfill the tender conditions.

The new policy also proposes to confiscate trucks carrying sand and imposition of a penalty of Rs 30,000 per each tonne of sand if the quarrying was done without the required permits. The bench comprising Chief Justice Madan B lokur and Justice P V Sanjay Kumar reserved its orders on the state's plea to vacate the stay on the quarrying of sand all over the state.