The Joint Action Committee of sand contractors, sand boat owners, workers and building material transporters are likely to go on strike on December 14 if the State Government does not scrap the recent proposal to change the policy on sand mining.
Addressing members of the association during a meeting on Tuesday, committee president Mayur Ullal said the new policy proposed by the State Government was not suited to the conditions of the district and therefore, it should be scrapped.
“We will bring all sand transport vehicles to Mangalore city and park them in front of the Deputy Commissioner's office if the policy was not scrapped,” he said.
The agenda of the meeting was to discuss the manner of protest to prevent the State Government from formulating a uniform policy for sand mining, Mr. Ullal said.
He told members of the organisation that four groups had been formed to oppose the proposed policy. One group explored the legal means to protest. Another group would work with the organisation's members providing information and organising them to protest against the Government's proposed decision. A third group would take the matter to court while the fourth would look after accounts, he said.
Mr. Ullal said in 2002, the coastal districts of the State had been exempted from the policy of auction formulated for the rest of the State. He said that elsewhere in the State the use of machines was allowed to extract sand.
