Members of the Maralu Horata Samiti launched an indefinite relay dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s Office here on Monday protesting against the district administration’s lackadaisical approach to solving the sand removal problem in Udupi district.
Speaking on the occasion, Raghupati Bhat, MLA, said that though the Union and State governments had given all necessary clarifications sought by the district administration, it was still dragging its feet on the sand removal problem.
The district administration had a few months ago given permits to only 46 permit holders for removal of sand. They had already removed the 17,000 tonnes of excess sand for which permission was given. But now there was again scarcity of sand. Sand was now being sold at ₹ 15,000 for three units in the district. Besides, sand was being illegally smuggled from Mangaluru and sold here.
Though the Karnataka State Coastal Zone Management Authority had recently given its nod for sand removal in CRZ areas after the expert team submitted its report, the district administration dragged its feet over granting permits to the permit holders. The amount of sand available in CRZ areas was estimated at 13 lakh tonnes.
Since Kundapur region had been declared as an eco-sensitive zone and no sand could be removed there, the entire district should be considered as a single unit. The previous permit holders of Kundapur region should be granted permits for removal of sand in other regions of the district, he said.
As regards non-CRZ areas, though the State government had given its nod for the Gram Panchayats to decide on removal of excess sand, the District Administration had not taken action on this. Fines had been imposed on about 250 trucks for either the non-functioning or malfunctioning of GPS equipments installed in these vehicles. But the district administration’s own fact-finding committee had stated that the functioning of GPS devices was questionable, Mr. Bhat said.
Kota Srinivas Poojary, Leader of the Opposition in Legislative Council, Dinakar Babu, President of Zilla Panchayat, Sablady Manjayya Shetty, Janata Dal (Secular) leader, Mattar Ratnakar Hegde, president of district unit of BJP, Jerry Vincent Dias, president of Builders Association, and others were present.
