Assistant Commissioner Manjushree found a huge quantity of sand that had been illegally extracted and stocked, near Jolada Hedagai village, in Deodurga taluk during a surprise visit on Wednesday.
She reprimanded Assistant Executive Engineer Bheema Reddy and junior engineer Ramappa for allowing the contractors to extract more sand than permitted.
When the officials expressed their fear of being attacked if they tried to stop illegal sand extraction, the infuriated Assistant Commissioner further chastised them. “Don’t you feel ashamed of fearing to discharge your duties? You seem to have joined hands with the mining mafia, and try to prevent higher-ups from visiting the mining spots by spreading the fear of attack. Ask them to come and attack us now,” she said.
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She ordered that the extracted sand not be transported till further orders came from the Deputy Commissioner. “I will submit a report to the Deputy Commissioner on the illegal sand extraction and the officers suspected to have joined hands with the mining mafia. Don’t allow the sand to be transported till the fresh order comes from the Deputy Commissioner,” she told Basavalingappa, tahsildar of Deodurga.
Somanagowda Patil, who bagged the contract for extracting 4,063 cubic metres of sand, had allegedly extracted more sand than what was permitted, along the banks of the Krishna.