Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Jan 5: Minister for mines, Rajashekhar Patil, has assured to hold discussions with the chief minister within two days and take a concrete decision over clearance of sand blocks located within coastal regulatory zones (CRZ) in coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Uttara Kannada. He was responding to the pleas of legislators from these districts to allow extraction of sand from the remaining sand blocks too to handle sand problem faced by the people of these districts.
A meeting was convened at Vidhana Soudha here on Friday January 4 to discuss sand shortage in coastal districts. The minister asked district administrations to take steps to issue permission to clear ten sand blocks located in CRZ for which permission is awaited. Minister, Dr Jayamala, MLAs, V Sunil Kumar, Raghupati Bhat, Rajesh Naik, Vedavyas Kamath, Sanjeev Matandoor, MLCs, deputy commissioners of the three districts, secretaries of the ministry and others participated in the high level meeting.
Out of 22 sand blocks, permission is pending in respect of 10 blocks in CRZ. The minister told the deputy commissioners to permit eligible contractors to extract sand before January 12.
The MLAs sought relaxation in some of the norms relating to sand mining in non-CRZ areas. They said that contractors are unable to take part in tender process because of certain stringent rules. MLC, Ivan D'Souza, said that the minister promised to discuss with the chief minister and take appropriate steps immediately.
MLA, Vedayavyasa Kamath, said that in response to demand for fixing rate for sand to help people affected by high price of sand caused by shortage of the material, the deputy commissioner said that he would convene a meeting of sand contractors soon to fix appropriate rate, and also set up call centre to receive complaint and address grievances of the general public. The meeting also decided that gram panchayats can entrust contract for sand extraction to Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd, Nirmiti Kendra, PWD etc. The minster has asked the deputy commissioners to draw plan of action for this purpose.