Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Mar 27: The state high court as upheld a decision taken by Dakshina Kannada District Sand Workforce Committee to issue permits to clear sand blocks by following the yardsticks as prevailing for Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) in the year 2011-12. The workforce is chaired by the deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district.

The workforce had issued permit to extract sand from CRZ areas by following the norms existing in 2011-12, on September 20, 2018. Abdul Majeed and Abdul Gafoor from this taluk had approached high court, questioning this decision.

As per the norms prevailing in 2011-12, only 53 persons were permitted to extract sand. During the next five years ,this number rose to 538. To protest the interests of the traditional sand extractors, the committee had decided to revert back to the norms prevailing in 2011-12 but this was questioned in the high court by the petitioners.

Advocates for petitioners argued that their clients were having permission to extract sand fro 2012 ro 2017 but because of the sudden change in rules made by the workforce committee, the petitioner had lost eligibility for permits. As they are deprived of their right to livelihood, the advocates had argued to modify the decision of the committee. The advocate for the committee said that this decision was taken by taking into account interests of traditional sand extractors to ensure that water flow is not affected. The court upheld this argument.