Minister for Mines, Geology, Women and Child Development and Empowerment of the Disabled and Senior Citizens Halappa Achar on Friday said that the government will take action to allow conventional sand extraction in non-coastal regulation zone (CRZ) areas in the coastal districts following due process.
Chairing a review meeting of his departments in Udupi, Mr. Achar announced this in response to a suggestion from Udupi MLA K. Raghupati Bhat that extraction in non-CRZ areas could provide quality sand for residents of the districts at affordable prices.
This, Mr. Bhat said, can also prevent frequent flooding of water bodies during the monsoon. Mr. Achar responded saying that the issue will be examined and a decision will be taken to benefit the residents.
The Minister said the Maralu Mithra App at the State-level is ready and it will be introduced on an experimental basis and asked the Udupi administration to launch a pilot of it.
He asked Mines and Geology Department officials to submit a report on the availability of different minerals in the district. Mr. Achar also asked them to permit stone crushing units if the applications are in order.
Stating that the district has been given ₹36 crore royalty collection target for 2021-22, the Minister noted that so far ₹28 crore have been collected. He asked officials to achieve the target by March-end.
Reviewing work under the Women and Child Development Department, Mr. Achar asked officials to release seed money to Stree Shakthi groups under the Amrutha Scheme of the department. He asked officials to ensure supply of quality nutrition food to anganwadis. All facilities being offered by the Government to children with malnutrition should be made available, he said and added that steps should be taken to ensure that anganwadis have their own buildings.
Mr. Achar also said that the Government has increased the grant to open old age homes from ₹2 lakh to ₹15 lakh and asked officials to submit proposals in this regard.
Byndoor MLA B.M. Sukumar Shetty, Coastal Development Authority Chairman Mattar Rathnakar Hegde, Industries Department Secretary Pankaj Kumar Pande, Mines and Geology Department Secretary V. Ram Prasad, Deputy Commissioner M. Kurma Rao, Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Y. Naveen Bhat and others were present.
Later, the Minister chaired a review meeting of his department work pertaining to Dakshina Kannada in Mangaluru.
