Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Dec 9: General secretary of Coastal Karnataka Sand Contractors and Workers Welfare Committee, Dinesh Suvarna, informed at a press conference held here on Wednesday December 8, that there has been some response from the government for the request made by the committee to extend concessions to the coast from the uniform sand policy proposed to be implemented in the state shortly.

He said that a sub-committee comprising ministers, R Ashok, Jagadish Shettar, C M Udasi, J Krishna Palemar and Dr V S Acharya, has been formed to consider demand for concessions. He added that the government has promised to empower the deputy commissioners of the coastal districts to encourage traditional methods of sand mining, without allowing mechanical mining.

In the meanwhile, there are allegations that in many parts of the district, the sand lobby is extracting additional money from the people, in the guise of tighter guidelines issued by the deputy commissioner. It is said that the sand transporters, sighting that there are lot of rules including fitting of global positioning systems in their vehicles to be complied with, and payments to be made to certain departments regularly, have been demanding additional money from gullible consumers. The rates of a truckload of sand, which hovered around Rs 900 last year, has shot up to Rs 1,500 to 1,800 this year. The prices have soared since the day rules were enforced to stop illegal transportation of sand to Kerala, the harassed people point out.

The sand contractors say that in the past, only the policemen used to intercept their vehicles, but that now both revenue and police department officials have been stopping them to check their records. There have been claims that since the last six months, hefty sums are being demanded in the name of officials of the departments concerned and the district administration.

The transporters extract sand from river beds by obtaining permission from the local bodies or other concerned departments. There are also rumours that the departments concerned have asked the sand contractors to pay them a fixed sum on a monthly basis instead of day-to-day collections. Although the claims of the sand transporters cannot be relied upon in toto, the fact that the sand price has gone skywards is a worrisome development. If the departments concerned are not to be blamed for the development, the people expect them to investigate causes for the price rise and take steps to bring it down. The revenue and police departments have added responsibility in this direction.