After sand sales TSMDC now eyeing dimensional stone mining 

The corporation has obtained statutory clearances for granite quarries in Karimnagar district; samples of quartz-feldspar have been already been collected from Gundyala range forest

After achieving significant revenues through sand sales, the Telangana State Mineral Development Corporation has focussed attention on mining dimensional stone.

The corporation obtained statutory clearances for dimensional granite quarries at Kothagattu village of Shankarapatnam mandal in Karimnagar district while proposals for quarrying had been sent to Forest department’s clearances for mining in over 54 hectares in Tallapusapalle and Namilikonda villages.

In addition, the department is in the process of obtaining clearances from the Forest department for quartz/feldspar mining in parts of erstwhile Mahabubnagar and Rangareddy districts. The TSMDC took permission from the Forest authorities and collected samples from Gundyala range forest area in this direction.

The entire area had been surveyed and highly potential areas were identified for taking up mining. Applications for obtaining quarry leases were under process. Besides, evaluation of marble deposits around Yellandu area of Bhadradri-Kothagudem and Khammam districts is also under progress, officials said.

In respect of sand sales, the corporation reported total revenues of ₹5,072.76 crore till recently and the income is expected to increase further owing to real estate boom and significant rise in the construction activity.

The corporation, at the same time, laid emphasis on deployment of IT infrastructure across its activities in the recent past. More than 70 of the 98 reaches under its purview are being monitored 24/7 through IP based CC cameras with live streaming at the TSMDC head office where a central monitoring system had been established. In addition, a call centre had been set up to provide information on sand sale operations with a provision of a tele-helpline to bring down illegal activities at sand reaches and provide price information to customers in real time.