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Taking serious note of the reports that some influential persons were trying to stop the permitted lorries transporting sand, Deputy Commissioner, D. Randeep has warned of taking stringent legal action against such persons.
In a release, he directed the officials of Mines and Geology Department to conduct the survey of sand blocks in Basavanabagewadi and Muddebihal taluks for seeking government approval for sand extraction.
He said that it was required to identify sand blocks in these taluks since the people were facing difficulty in procuring sand from other taluks.
He also directed them to check whether the permitted blocks were dried enough to start extraction for meeting the growing demand of the sand for construction sector.
He said that permission had been given to provide electricity connection to the check-posts, sand stockyards, deployment of additional police force and mobile phones to the vigilant squad for monitoring sand transport in the district.
Mr. Randeep directed the officials of PWD to make sure that all the newly set up check-posts start functioning within a week by providing all facilities including installation of solar panels for light during power cuts.
On the complaints of the lorry owners that owing to short supply of labours appointed by the government, the loading and unloading of sand was delaying by couple of days, though the order is that lorries should be loaded the same day, the D.C. said that the permission has been granted to the lorry owners to bring their own labourers for the job.
The official said that in order to provide relief to the people, the decision had been taken to slash the cost of per cubic meter from Rs. 995 to Rs. 850.
Mr. Randeep made it clear that there was no ban on transporting or importing sand from Vijayapura or other districts/States, but the government has imposed ban on transporting Vijayapura district’s sand to other States.
Considering this ban, he directed the vigilant squad and the police to prevent the transport of sand to neighbouring States such as Maharashtra.
Replying to the complaints that Zalaki checkpost had been poorly maintained, due to which, overloaded sandladen Lorries were freely passing, he directed the officials to keep a strict watch over any such movement. “Deal such people with iron hand”, Mr. Randeep said.
