• Sand policy to be liberalised to check shortage
• Govt to supply quality sand at market price
• Temporary permits to extract sand along riverbeds in CRZ
Bengaluru, January 29: Mines and Geology Minister Murugesh Nirani on Friday said that the government will introduce a separate sand policy for the coastal region of Karnataka as per the longstanding demand of the people of that region for sand mining. The minister made the announcement on the floor of the legislative assembly.
While answering the question raised by Congress legislator UT Khader during the question hour, Murugesh Nirani said a separate sand policy will be introduced to help the people of Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada districts in the coastal region. “The construction activities are affected in many parts of the state due to shortage of sand. The government will take necessary steps to prevent such problem in any part of the state”, Nirani added.
Murugesh Nirani further added that he held district and state-level meeting with officials after he took over as the minister and aware of the problems faced by the people due to shortage of sand. He promised to ensure the availability of sand for the people without further delay. “Our aim is to supply quality sand with much lesser price to the people. We will introduce new policies in the department and it’s our priority to supply quality sand to the people at market price”, Nirani announced.
The minister said the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) authority has been instructed to clear 13 sand mounds located along riverbeds coming under CRZ in 2020-21. The 7-member District Sand Monitoring Committee headed by the Deputy Commissioner will issue temporary permits to 104 applicants to extract sand from 13 sand mounds for one year.
The minister added that action taken to clear the sand mounds along the riverbeds in CRZ as per the instructions from the Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The Mines and Geology department would consider only those having temporary permits to clear the sand mounds of 2011-12 and couple of years prior to that along the riverbeds in the CRZ.
Legislators Raghpathi Bhat, Nadagouda, Kumar Bangarappa also raised the issue of shortage of sand during question hour and blamed the apathy of officials. The minister assured that sand would be made available to public to spur construction activities and sand auction would be conducted as per the rules.