Few takers for high quality Hundung sand
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, October 31: Despite the common knowledge of the superior quality of sand made from grinding the stones known as 'exotic sandstone' found in Lower Hundung village of Ukhrul district, its acceptance and use is still very limited.

Situated 5 kms from Ukhrul district headquarters from Imphal side along National Highway 150, Lower Hundung is a small hilly village comprising of only 320 households and covering an area of just over 1 sq km.

The village is located some 50 feet away from National Highway 150.Rich deposit of exotic sandstone, known in the local parlance as Zamala is found all along the hilly ranges of the village.

The sand procured from grinding these exotic stones is considered to be of high quality and there is great demand for it in the neighbouring States.

Sand pounded from exotic sandstone piled up on the roadside

However, the people of the State are yet to fully utilise this sand variety for construction purposes in a big way.

Even if the people in Mizoram and Nagaland are ready to pay as much as Rs 5000 to Rs 5500 for a truck load of the sand produced in Lower Hundung, there are still some valid reasons for its low demand in the State.

Information received from Department of Earth Science, Manipur University said that although the superior quality of the exotic sand when compared with other types of sand found in the State has been proved beyond doubt during laboratory testing, its high content of clay has some inherent difficulties in using the same in construction purposes.

Nonetheless, if the clay content from exotic sand can be washed washed off completely, its quality would be no less than the type of sand found in Dimapur, the source said, while disclosing that exotic stones are found in abundance in the western part of the valley as well.

According to some people who have had personal experience of using the sand made from exotic stones explained that the ratio of mixing cement, sand and stone chips for making mortar for construction of buildings and bridges as specified by the engineers concerned is 1:4 : 6 .

(i.e.for every one bucket of cement, two buckets of sand and three buckets of stone chips are to be used for making the mortar.

However, if exotic sand is used in place of other sans types, then the quality of the work can be maintained very well at the ratio of 1:7:9 provided one keeps sprinkling water on the constructed structures very frequently as this type of sand required lot of water for showing its real potential.

Inspite of the debate on the quality of exotic sand produced in Lower Hundung village, one thing is certain, and that is the villagers, who earlier depended mainly on agricultural activities for their livelihood are today taking up manufacturing of the exotic sand in a big way.

Instead of heading to the field for ploughing and cultivate crops, today many of them are seen heading to the nearby cliff to collect exotic stones and bringing them home for grinding.

It is said a family can easily earn upto Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 every month just from grinding exotic stones and selling its powdered grains.