Workers seek extraction of sand from riverbanks

Members of the Udupi District Construction and Others Workers’ Coordination Committee, affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), began an indefinite dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Monday seeking immediate extraction of sand from riverbanks.

Addressing protesters here, Suresh Kalagara, committee convener, said several workers were involved in the construction industry. The district administration, which banned sand extraction during the monsoon, had lifted the ban about a month ago. But currently sand was being extracted from closer to the sea shore.

But most of the workers in the district were dependent on the extraction of sand from river banks. This, however, was delayed due to the delay in floating tenders. This had created an artificial shortage of sand, sending prices up from Rs. 2,000 per truckload to Rs. 3,800.

This had made it difficult for the poor to buy sand for the construction of their houses. Some gram panchayats were also imposing cess on the sand extracted. This had added to the increase in the price of sand.

The Committee had met the Deputy Commissioner on September 16 and the district in-charge Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake on September 18 and brought these matters to their notice. But no action had been forthcoming. Hence, the committee had to resort to staging the dharna.

The committee’s main demand was that tenders should be floated to extract sand from riverbanks immediately. The sand extracted from the river banks should be made available to the local people before being transported to other districts. The gram panchayats should not impose cess on sand extracted, they said.