Chennai, Feb 2 (IANS): AIADMK leader and former Chief Minister, O. Panneerselvam (OPS) has urged Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin to contain the rising price of river sand.

The former Chief Minister in a statement on Wednesday said that the DMK government had made an electoral promise of containing the rising river sand prices. He said that despite this the price of river sand is rising and that the government is not initiating any steps to contain it making the construction industry bleed.

He said that the price of river sand is hovering at Rs 13,500 per unit leading to untold miseries for lower and middle-income group people. He said that the DMK government had recently made a promise that it would make sand available at quarries at Rs 1000 per unit for a specified time but said that the promise has not been kept.

He said that there is a black market for sand in Chennai and other places of the state and called upon the government to take stringent action against those who are indulging in raising the price of river sand uncontrollably.

The former Chief Minister said that the transportation cost of river sand is one of the factors for the rise in prices and asked Chief Minister Stalin to take appropriate steps to bring the price down and to increase the availability of sand including quarry sand so that the construction work of lower and middle-income group people is not affected.