Administration is apathetic to sand extraction issue\, says Raghupati Bhat

Mangalur

Administration is apathetic to sand extraction issue, says Raghupati Bhat

K. Raghupati Bhat, MLA, addressing presspersons at the dharna venue outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Udupi on Friday.

K. Raghupati Bhat, MLA, addressing presspersons at the dharna venue outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Udupi on Friday.  

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We are following rules: Udupi Deputy Commissioner

K. Raghupati Bhat, BJP MLA, said on Friday that both the State government and the district administration were not interested in solving the sand extraction problem in Udupi district.

Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Bhat, who is leading an indefinite relay dharna over the sand extraction issue outside the Deputy Commissioner’s Office here from the last two days, said the district administration was quoting rules and regulations with regard to sand extraction selectively. It wants to provide extraction permits to 68 people only.

This would not help the construction sector as the sand extracted would not be enough to meet the needs of the entire district. The Maraligagi Horata Samiti wants permits for extraction to be given to all 171 permit holders in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) areas of the district.

The district administration now wants only those who were permit holders before 2011 to apply for the new permits. This was unfair, he said. The samiti wanted permits to be provided for 109 traditional sand extractors in the non-CRZ areas. The worst affected owing to inordinate delay by the administration were the workers in the construction sector, he said. “The previous Deputy Commissioners dealt with the issue expeditiously, but the present Deputy Commissioner only quotes rules and regulations,” Mr. Bhat said.

Deputy Commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis told reporters that she was only following the State government’s orders in seeking applications from those who were extracting sand before 2011. The administration was open to any new application in this regard.

The administration has written to the higher authorities pointing out some practical difficulties in the sand extraction issue in the CRZ areas and sought relaxations in the sensitive areas.

“We have urged the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to rework the CRZ maps. We have also sought clarification over what constituted ‘traditional’ and ‘coastal’,” she said.

A case with regard to sand extraction was going in the National Green Tribunal and the district administration had to be careful. The administration had already ordered a survey in the Papanashini, Sita, and Swarna rivers in the district as part of its efforts to solve the sand problem, Ms. Francis said.