Bantwal: Sand Mafia Assaults Dy Tahsildar - Palemar Moots GPS for Their Vehicles
by Mounesh Vishwakarma
Daijiworld Media Network – Bantwal (SP)

Bantwal, Jun 22: Perhaps emboldened by the soft stand taken by the officials and the government towards its arrogance, foul play and past misdemeanours, the sand mafia not only assaulted deputy (dy) tahildar, Basavaraj Palloti and his staff on Monday June 21, but also threatened them with dire consequences. The team had visited Sanoorpadav Gundikumeru in Kariyangala village for inspection, after gathering the information that huge stock of sand had been piled up there illegally. The team had been deputed by taluk tahsildar, Ravichandra Nayak.

Reportedly, the team found three tippers loaded with sand, which were ready to leave, on their arrival there. As soon as they intercepted these vehicles, the drivers and conductors of the vehicles fled from the scene.

The deputy tahsildar then asked the driver of the backhoe that was at the spot for loading sand on to the trucks, to accompany him in his jeep. He then collected the key of of the backhoe and started back, when two men, who came in a two wheeler, pounced upon the deputy tahsildar, beat him up and took the driver of the backhoe away. Following the incident, a crowd of 15 to 20 persons, who came in autorickshaws, attacked the jeep of the department, in which the jeep driver, Chandra, was injured. Village accountant, Somashekhar Maiya and two other probationary village accountants, who were accompanying the deputy tahsildar, escaped unhurt. The deputy tahsildar, who is on the verge of retirement, made lot of efforts to nab at least one or two of the culprits, but to no avail, it is learnt.

A member of the deputy tahsildar’s team recorded the proceedings in his mobile phone, and the recording was later handed over to the policemen. Immediately after coming to know of the incident, the tahsildar rushed to the spot with a police contingent, and confiscated over 500 loads of sand stored at the site.

In the evening, district assistant commissioner, Prabhulinga Kavalikatti, Puttur assistant superintendent of police, Amit Singh, local circle inspector, Nanjunde Gowda, sub-inspector, Vinayak Billava and other policemen visited the area.

The tahisldar said that the sand in question belonged to A K Shekhabba from Adoor. It was stocked in the land owned by Radhakrishna Rao and Ramachandra Bhandary in Gundikumeru area. The two-wheeler in which two assaulters had arrived, belongs to Mustafa Rehman, son of Abdul Rehman, it is gathered.

Addressing the quarterly progress meeting of Karnataka Development Programme held at Mangalore on Monday, district in-charge minister, Krishna J Palemar, said that the district administration has taken steps to make it mandatory for the sand transporting vehicles to fit global positioning system in them, to help the administration to track their movements. “This system will come into force within a week. Those failing to get their vehicles fitted with GPS will face cancellation of their permits,” he warned.

It is hoped that the government would be able to rein in the sand mafia, which is being run illegally with the blessings of the high and the mighty. The sand transporters have always run amok when confronted by law enforcing agencies in the past.