Jamshedpur, June 27 (PTI) Scarcity of construction materials such as sand and stone chips has adversely affected government projects, including the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), in Jharkhand, former chief minister Raghubar Das said on Monday.Construction of houses in the rural areas under PMAY has come down to 500 units per day from the earlier 1,400-1,500 units, the senior BJP leader said.Similarly, construction of culverts and bridges under Mukhyamantri Gramya Setu Yojana (MGSY) has come to a grinding halt, he claimed.Holding the JMM-led government in the state responsible, Das said the crisis of construction material was pushing Jharkhand backwards."The present dispensation in Jharkhand is neither walking nor crawling, it is in deep slumber," he said.Das said the auction of sand ghats and stone quarries in the state was pending since 2020, leading to the crisis.However, sand and stone chips are being illegally transported to Bangladesh, he alleged.The state agencies recently conducted raids to check illegal mining and transportation of minerals.Such a crisis would have been avoided had the government auctioned the sand ghats and quarries in time, Das said, terming the raids an "eyewash".The situation has also affected the real estate sector, and rendered about 20 lakhs labourers jobless, he claimed.Jharkhand has around 400 stone quarries and the lease of 60 per cent of it has expired. An average of 32,000 tonnes of stones were used to be mined from these 241 quarries per day, he said.The government has imposed a ban on mining from these quarries following the expiry of the lease terms. PTI BS SOM SOM