The indefinite stir from July 20 will see nearly 55,000 lorries go off the roads

The decision of sand lorry operators to go on strike from July 20 is expected to hit the construction industry hard, and delay projects.

This, at a time when several projects are already making slow progress owing to a slew of reasons, including shortage of sand.

The Tamil Nadu State Sand Lorry Owners Federation intends to go on an indefinite strike from July 20. Nearly 55,000 lorries may go off the roads across the State.

This situation is likely to bring transportation of construction material to a grinding halt.

S.Yuvaraj, the federation’s president, said sand lorry operators were joining the national-level strike called by the All India Motor Transport Congress. Besides demands of a reduction in fuel price and toll charges, the federation also wants streamlining of savudu soil mining.

Mr. Yuvaraj said illegal sand mining from smaller water bodies was rampant in the name of removal of savudu soil, a coarse type of earth, and there is an urgent need to streamline savudu soil excavation and sales.

Also, more sand quarries must be opened to overcome the persistent shortage of river sand.

Delays and expenses

The decision to go on strike is expected to affect construction activity. Chennai and its periphery has nearly 10,000 ongoing projects, according to members of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI). Suresh Krishnan, past president of CREDAI, said construction projects with a total area of nearly 1 crore sq. ft. are in progress in and around Chennai alone. Construction labourers would be among the first to be affected.

If the lorry strike continues for a week, it would cause additional expenditure and delay projects by at least two weeks.

There is a minimum requirement of 10,000 truckloads of sand a day in Chennai and m-sand is bridging the gap to some extent, according to builders.

Many projects hit

L. Venkatesan of the Builders Association of India, Southern Centre, said nearly 20% of the projects are already affected because of other issues like Goods and Services Tax and the proposed strike would severely affect the industry with ₹40,000 crore worth ongoing projects.

This may increase expenses by a minimum of 10%.

The strike would also push up the price of construction materials like m-sand, he added.

Meanwhile, the Public Works Department is in the process of opening 20 more quarries across the State. PWD officials said that the tendering process is on to open quarries in places such as Tiruvallur, Cudallore, Karur, Tiruchi and Nagapattinam within two months. At present, there are 15 sand quarries.

The chosen contractor would be engaged in loading and transporting the sand to depots from where it would be distributed. An additional 3,000-4,000 truckloads of sand would be available daily.

There are also plans to set up a 24-hour control room in Kalas Mahal to monitor the operation of quarries and sand depots by mid-July.