Call for separate sand extraction policy

The Karnataka Coastal District Traditional Sand Lifters’ Association has demanded a separate sand extraction policy for the three coastal districts of Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada.

Addressing presspersons here on Saturday, Dinesh Suvarna, general secretary of the association, said that sand lifters in the three districts had been extracting sand for generations from the river bed through traditional and environmentally friendly means.

They went into the river on wooden boats and lifted the sand in the river with the help of buckets and then put in the boat.

The boat was then rowed back to the river banks. The sand collected in the boat was then unloaded on the river banks.

However, the traditional sand lifters were affected due to the wrong policies of the administrators and the commercialisation of process of sand extraction. In order to protect the interests of the traditional sand lifters, they had come together and formed the association last month.

The techniques used for sand lifting in the coastal districts were different from those used in other places.

Hence, it was essential that the government took immediate steps to have a separate sand extraction policy for the Coastal districts. Mr. Suvarna said that the National Green Tribunal (Southern Zone), Chennai, had on May 17, banned sand mining in the rivers that fall under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) areas in Udupi district.

Some residents of Baikady and Kukkude villages near Brahmavar in Udupi taluk had approached the tribunal complaining that the sand was being extracted in violation of norms and flouting all environmental laws in last few years.

They had also complained of the movement of heavy trucks and the damage caused to the roads due to it.

“Had the government and district administration responded to the problems of people, they would not have approached the Tribunal and the matter could have been solved at the local level,” he said.

The next hearing of the Tribunal was scheduled in the third week of August. This ban had affected the traditional sand lifters in the district.

The association had brought this matter to the notice of the Deputy Commissioner T. Venkatesh.