India has just imported its first shipment of sand from Malaysia, totalling 55,000 tonnes, at half the price that it commands in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. But a Malaysian Cabinet minister was quoted as saying that he suspected "hanky-panky" in the contract as his government has not issued any export licences for sand. Malaysian Natural Resources and Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar told Free Malaysia Today news site on Sunday: "As far as I know, on record, we have never issued any (approved permits) to anyone to sell sand to India. There seems to be some hanky-panky by someone here."
The government today confirmed that it has given approval for two companies to export sand to India. Natural Resources and Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the companies had sent 50,000 tonnes of sand to Tamil Nadu. “For the state of Karnataka, negotiations are still ongoing,” he added in a statement. The sand was obtained from dredging the Sungai Pahang and Sungai Kelantan estuaries to keep flooding at bay. The Times of India had last week reported that the first batch of sand from Malaysia had arrived at a port in the state of Tamil Nadu. The daily said a private firm based in Pudukottai, India, had imported the 55,000 tonnes of sand.
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