Daijiworld Media Network - Bantwal (SP)

Bantwal, Apr 19: Protesting against failure of taluk administration to effectively tackle illegal sand mining that is going on unhindered in the taluk, activists of BJP under the aegis of the local constituency committee of the party, laid siege to the office of the tahsildar on Monday April 18.

The protesters, who raised slogans against the district in-charge minster and the taluk tahsildar, charged them of lending support to this illegal activity.

The protesters lost their cool at the fact that even after considerable wait, they could not meet the tahsildar. They then tried to barge into the office, but policemen thwarted their effort. Still, some among them succeeded in reaching the office and sitting in dharna. The police went in, and convinced them to leave.

Tahsildar, Purandar Hegde, said later that he had raided illegal sand mining centres several times and confiscated sand transportation vehicles with help from the police. He added that he has lot of other works, and raiding sand mines is not the only one. He added that officials of mines and the geology department are vested with this responsibility.

BJP local constituency committee president, G Anand, zilla panchayat members, Tungappa Bangera, Kamalakshi, Devadas Shetty, Govind Prabhu, Sulochana Bhat, and a number of other activists were present.