The Department of Mines and Geology on Monday night raided a place on the banks of Nethravathi River in Adyar on the outskirts of Mangalore after a tip-off of illegal mining of sand.
The mining was being done by using the sand extraction permit issued for Udupi district
Deputy Director H.P. Harish said on a tip-off the department personnel and police visited the site behind the Sahyadri Engineering College in Adyar.
The extraction of sand was being done using the permit issued in the name of P. Saunhi, a resident of Udupi. As many as 14 trucks were waiting at the site to transport sand to Bangalore. Officials have recovered permits allowing transport of sand from Udupi to Bangalore via Mangalore, Hassan, Kunigal.
Officials have seized 14 trucks and also the two earth movers that were being used for loading sand into the vehicles. Mr. Harish said there has been misuse of the sand extraction permit issued by the Department. “Similar misuse of permits issued for Udupi region has been noticed earlier too.
Higher-ups have been informed about it,” Mr. Harish said. In light of the incident, action was being taken to cancel temporary sand extraction permits in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, he said.
Sand extraction in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada continues on the basis of permits issued by the Department of Mines and Geology, unlike other regions where the Public Works Department was looking into it.
Mr. Harish said temporary permits for sand mining were being issued in Dakshina Kannada for a period of three months on payment of Rs. 30,000 as royalty.
They are also issued bulk permits for transportation of sand. The transport permits in Dakshina Kannada are issued only if vehicles are fitted with Global Positioning System devices.
While in Udupi transit permits are issued to vehicles that not fitted with GPS devices, which, Mr. Harish said, was being misused.
