Priyanka Mary Francis, Deputy Commissioner, said on Tuesday that the district administration had written to the State government to bring about suitable amendments in the Karnataka Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 1994, so that local gram panchayats got powers to allot permits for sand extraction.
In a press release issued here, Ms. Francis said that this was one of the demands put forth by the District Lorry Owners’ Association in its talks with the district administration on October 22 to clear the impasse over the sand extraction issue.
The association had demanded that the present system of calling tenders for sand extraction at the district and taluk-levels should be given up.
Instead the government should revert to the system which was in practice five years ago, when the local GPs provided permits for sand extraction in their respective jurisdiction.
The administration had also written to the government to reduce the limits of eco-sensitive places in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) areas in Kundapur and Byndoor taluks.
The government had also been requested to reduce the area of sand dune identification to a minimum of one acre in the non-CRZ areas in the district.
As per another request of the association, a letter had been sent to the Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada to allow sand to be transported from Dakshina Kannada to Udupi district as per rules of the sand policy.
The association had also requested for sand dunes in CRZ and non-CRZ areas to be identified and sand to be extracted from both these areas simultaneously.
The administration had sought a month’s time for the implementation of this condition from the association, the release said.
