Members of the Udupi District Truck Owners and Operators’ Association, who transport extracted sand, staged a dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Thursday demanding withdrawal of the rule making installation of GPS in their trucks mandatory.
Addressing the protesters, Gunakar Shetty, president of the association, said that since these trucks transported extracted sand only within the district, there was no need for GPS in them. “The GPS installed are of poor quality and the officers are harassing truck operators under the pretext of checking the equipment,” he said. He said the situation was such that truck operators were mostly in a state of fear. Cases are foisted on them and the owners on the flimsiest of charges, and such cases which have been filed should be withdrawn immediately, he said.
Since there was shortage of sand and there were only two months left for monsoon to hit the district, the administration should allow extraction of sand at all sand bars, he said.
Only a few sand bars in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) areas are functioning in the district. With the result, the trucks have to wait for a large part of the day and end up getting just one truckload of sand.
“There is no need for imported sand or M-sand in the district. The use of sand imported from Malaysia and M-sand is now being seen in a few parts of the district. Some powerful politicians are promoting this. Transportation of sand from Dakshina Kannada to Udupi district without permission should be stopped,” Mr. Shetty said.
