R B Jagadish
Daijiworld Media Network - Karkala (SP)
Karkala, Apr 26: Sand mafia has been involved actively with the mining of sand from River Shambhavi in Sanoor near here since long. The fact that the officials of the department have preferred to turn a blind eye to the goings on has given rise to speculations in the minds of the people here. Since about a month, this business has been continuing in the western direction of the old bridge at Sanoor. Strangely, public property is being allegedly plundered in the name of implementation of government project.
Under Pradhan Mantri Grama Sadak Yojana, a road between Sanoor and Kuntalpadi is being developed. This four km-long and 15-metre wide road with underground drainage work involves an outlay of Rs 5.5 crore. The work also involves concreting of the road for a length of about a kilometre. The road work is progressing rapidly, but because of the involvement of the road contractor with illegal sand mining activity in River Shambhavi, over a hundred truck loads of sand mined from the river has been used for the road work. There is a huge question mark on the justifiability of the use of government property by the contractor for executing a road development work entrusted to him by the government.
It has been several years since Karnataka high court ordered to place a blanket ban on sand mining by using dredgers and JCBs. Sand mining by using various equipments continues unabated in the taluk. Because of the support of political leaders and officials of the departments, the activity is continuing, in violation of the high court order.
Former president of Sanoor gram panchayat, Narasimha Kamath, notes that the contractors do not execute any work free of cost, and that it is the duty of the revenue as well as mining and geology department officials to take steps against illegal loot of government assets.
Karkala tahsildar, Babu Devadiga, expressed regret at the illegal mining of sand from the river. He added that no complaints about this activity have been received so far, and promised to take steps after seeking a report from revenue inspector. Niranjan of the department of mines and geology said that the department had not given any permission to conduct sand mining from River Shambhavi. 'We have clues about this activity. We will conduct a raid and take suitable steps,' he added.