Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (MS)

Mangaluru, Oct 2: In order to curtail the activities of illegal sand mining mafia in the district, the district sand committee and seven-member committee for identifying sand dunes in CRZ area have jointly taken some vital decisions.

Eligible traditional sand mining permit holders can apply for temporary permission from the office of deputy director of Mining and Geology department to extract sand from 13 sand dunes in the CRZ area. The committee presided over by sub-divisional officer will scrutinize the applications and take action to give temporary permissions for sand extraction.

Representational image

In order to increase the storage capacity of water in Thumbay dam, it is decided to extract the sand at the river basin and the contract of the same will be given to Karnataka State Mineral Corporation.

Instructions are given to concerned department and Karnataka state mineral corporation officials to extract the sand available at AMR dam limits in Navoor-Shamboor village of Bantwal taluk and also Maravoor dam. The available sand will be supplied to general public.

Department-wise teams are formed in order to prevent illegal sand mining in river basins under CRZ limits and also at other areas of the district. It is instructed that the officials of these teams are supposed to work 24x7 during the prescribed days.

According to the new sand policy, concerned gram panchayats are given the responsibility of extracting and distributing sand from the canals that are identified as first, second and third class. This information was shared by president of district sand committee and deputy commissioner Dr K V Rajendra.