From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Mar 23: Coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi will be supplied minerals-free sand and those mixing minerals with sand will face stringent action, said mines and geology minister Murugesh R Nirani on Tuesday.

Replying to a question from Congress leader Pratapchandra Shetty in the state Legislative Council, the minister said the state government decided to make the decision on supplying minerals-free sand to the coastal districts and take tough action against those violating the norm.

The decision was based on the findings of the report from a committee constituted by the mines and geology, revenue, forests and environment ministries that quality of construction suffers from the use of sand having salt content.

"We have already stopped minerals mixed sand supply," he said the sand blocks at places where river join the sea consisted of salt content damaging the construction.

Nirani said 1153 lac metric tonnes of sand was extracted from the 22 sand blocks of Dakshina Kannada coastal regulation zone (CRZ) areas in 2018-19 and 2019-20.

The minister said the mines and geology department has identified 49 blocks having 12.71 lac metric tonnes of sand in non-CRZ areas of Dakshina Kannada district from 2018 to 2021. In the Udupi district, 28 blocks with 3.47 lac metric tonnes of sand have been identified during the same period.

As many as 182 cases of misuse of permits have been taken up in Dakshina Kannada district and 132 cases were registered during 2018-19. Fines to the tune of Rs 37.60 lac had been collected and 9138 metric tonnes of sand had been seized. The number of cases was 144 and the cases registered was 130 resulting in a collection of Rs 9.66 lac penalty and seizure of 4747 lac metric tonnes of sand during 2019-20. Another 155 cases were detected and 11 cases registered till the end of February with a collection of fines of Rs 53.98 lac and seizure of 6197 lac metric tonnes of sand.

In the Udupi district, as many as 110 cases of misuse of permits have been taken up and 83 cases were registered during 2018-19. Fines to the tune of Rs 23.50 lac had been collected and 116.50 metric tonnes of sand had been seized. The number of cases was 306 and the cases registered was 152 resulting in a collection of Rs 81.60 lac penalty and seizure of 991 lac metric tonnes of sand during 2019-20. Another 162 cases were detected and 32 cases registered till the end of February with a collection of fines of Rs 36.70 lac and seizure of 418 lac metric tonnes of sand.

Answering a question from Vijay Singh, the minister said the department has taken tough measures to ensure that blasts using explosives in granite and stone crushing quarries did not repeat in the State.

Nirani admitted that 16 quintals of illegal gelatin stocks had been detected in Bidar district and an FIR has already been registered. The guilty will be dealt with severely after completing the probe, he said.