The district administration has suspended the booking of sand through www.dksandbazaar.com from where sand, dredged from the backwaters of the Thumbe vented dam across the Netravathi, was being supplied during the sand-extraction holiday period.
An announcement on the website stated that bookings have been suspended owing to weather conditions until further communication. Orders already received will be honoured on priority basis. The website, made operational just before the sand extraction season from rivers in Coastal Regulation Zones ended, began offering sand dredged from the Thumbe vented dam that was cheaper and superior in quality to the CRZ sand.
The dredged slurry was pumped to the river bank near Talapady village, about half-a-kilometre upstream of the Thumbe dam and the sand was recovered from the slurry before transferring it to stock yards in the locality. With the demand increasing for the Thumbe sand, the administration had to limit the supply to 100 orders a day and one booking from one particular mobile number.
Having received tremendous response from the residents of the district, the administration has already delivered over 2,000 orders, about 500 from earlier CRZ extraction and another about 1,500 orders from the Thumbe site.
Copious rains in the catchment area of Netravathi have resulted in increased flow in the river, following which the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) that manages the vented dam had to release as much water that flows in towards the sea.
This, according to officials, has affected the dredging activity too as the backwater was witnessing strong currents.
The former president of the sand association Mayoor Ullal told The Hindu the 95 permit holders of CRZ sand extraction in the district have always supported the administration’s initiative.
They want sand to be extracted legally and utilised within the district, he added. Their only demand to increase CRZ sand price to ₹650 a tonne is yet to be met by the administration, which has increased it to ₹550 a tonne.
