Lokayukta wants law to stop illegal sand extraction

February 16, 2010 09:09 pm | Updated November 17, 2021 07:18 am IST - BANGALORE

Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde has asked the Karnataka Government to enact a law against illegal sand extraction to stem damage to the ecology and prevent financial loss to the exchequer. File Photo: R. Eswarraj

Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde has asked the Karnataka Government to enact a law against illegal sand extraction to stem damage to the ecology and prevent financial loss to the exchequer. File Photo: R. Eswarraj

Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde has asked the State Government to enact a law against illegal sand extraction to stem damage to the ecology and prevent financial loss to the exchequer.

Mr. Hegde, in a letter to the Government, said “powerful people” were involved in and benefited from illegal sand extraction. This is the second letter on the issue by the Lokayukta. In a similar letter in October 2007, he had asked that necessary legislation be passed to stop illegal sand extraction. But the Government “I must say, has taken no action”, Mr. Hegde said.

In the letter addressed to Chief Secretary S.V. Ranganath dated February 2, Mr. Hegde said illegal sand extraction was going on in all the rivers, including the Tungabhadra and the Cauvery.

“Information available with my institution shows that powerful people are involved in illegal sand extraction, who are also the beneficiaries.” The State Government was losing Rs. 90 lakh a day on royalty, he wrote.

The State Government had fixed Rs. 30 as royalty for each MT (million tonne) of sand. Each single rear axle lorry with 16 MT sand on an average fetched a royalty of Rs. 480. “But strangely, the State has issued an executive order fixing Rs. 250 a lorry load instead of Rs. 30 per MT of sand,” Mr. Hegde said.

Pointing to the gravity of the situation, Mr. Hegde said the institution (Lokayukta) had found proof of large-scale illegal sand extraction on the land as well as from the riverbed. Powerful pumps mounted on boats were used for sand extraction from the riverbed.

Mafia

“This illegal activity and people involved in it have formed themselves into a mafia, threatening anybody who opposes it,” Mr. Hegde said. Illegal activities were continuing as the district machinery was not serious about preventing them, he added.

Mr. Hegde said earthmovers were being used by lease holders to extract sand from the land leased to them in one or two years and then move on to other areas with the same lease, he said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.