Assam Construction Grinds to a Halt as New Minor Mineral Rules Trigger Sand and Stone Shortage

Construction is at a standstill across the state in peak monsoon; even urgent repair of leaking roofs is not possible. Traders fear black marketing and harassment.

STAFF REPORTER

Guwahati, July 21: All sorts of construction activities in Assam, particularly in Guwahati, have come to a virtual standstill due to an acute shortage of stone chips and river sand after the new minor mineral rules of the state government came into force earlier this month.

Sources told The Sentinel that the crisis follows the Assam Minor Mineral Concession (Amendment) Rules, 2026, notified on July 9. The new rules have put a series of fees, permits and conditions on every truckload of stone and sand moving into or within the state, and supply has dried up within a week.

The state mainly depends on its neighbours for stone chips. Upper Assam depends almost entirely on Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, while Guwahati draws mainly from Meghalaya, apart from riverbed sources within the state. River sand for the capital city comes mostly from Sonapur and Goalpara. The new rules touch every one of these supply lines at the same time.

Stone entering Assam from the neighbouring states now attracts a transportation fee of Rs 150 per cubic metre, apart from a charge of Rs 200 on every electronic transit pass (e-TP), with GST and other levies added on top. Minerals being transported within the state, like sand from Sonapur and Goalpara, can only be moved using electronic transit passes (e-TPs) created on a government website, in vehicles registered on that site and equipped with GPS, and through specific weighbridges. Traders who stock material need a storage licence costing Rs 1 lakh a year.

The result, dealers said, is that prices have gone up — but, more importantly, materials are simply not available. Construction activities have stopped at sites across the city. Families are returning empty-handed from suppliers as they try to repair leaking roofs or rebuild damaged approach roads in the middle of the rains.

Builders said the burden will fall finally on the common man. Every rupee of the new fees will be added to the price of flats and houses, they pointed out, adding that what the government calls revenue is in effect a tax on the public. Excessively draconian penalties, running into lakhs of rupees along with provisions for imprisonment, have also been imposed, even for lapses of paperwork.

A provision of the new rules has caused particular unease. Officers, of the rank of forester and above, can now summon “any person” in connection with minor minerals and demand documents. Ordinary consumers and homeowners who have bought a truckload of sand could be called up and penalised – officially or through some other form of dealing. Legal experts told The Sentinel that it is doubtful whether such powers and such high fees on the movement of goods from other states can be imposed through rules rather than by law and said the matter is likely to be tested before the Gauhati High Court.

It is important to remember that the 2021 change to the same rules, which updated the royalty in the Third Schedule, was contested in the Gauhati High Court by the Assam Real Estate and Infrastructure Developers’ Association (AREIDA), and the High Court paused its implementation for the association’s members. The new rules, notably, seek to enforce that very Third Schedule, with penalties for defaulting on it. With the earlier notification already under challenge, legal circles expect the 2026 amendment to follow the same path.

Traders also cautioned that the scarcity creates an opportunity for black marketing. As seen in earlier shortages, they said, those who can manage the system will corner the market, and the field-level machinery that controls permits, weighbridges and transit passes will gain from the desperation of buyers. Unfortunately, in this case, the forest officers will intentionally take advantage of the traders, while the common man will suffer the consequences.

Also Read: Assam Tightens Minor Mineral Rules with GPS, e-TPs to Curb Illegal Mining and Boost Revenue