The Dakshina Kannada district administration has joined the bandwagon of online sale of products, but with a difference. It sells sand online to ensure transparency in extraction and transportation.
The District Sand Monitoring Committee, headed by the Deputy Commissioner, launched https://dksandbazaar.com in mid-May on a trial basis to sell sand extracted from rivers in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ). Till May 31, when sand extraction in CRZ came to a three-month halt, the district administration had ensured delivery of 480 loads.
Earlier, the buyer had to approach a particular dhakke owner (permit-holder) to buy sand and pay the amount demanded. There were many instances of the extracted sand not being sold within the district and transported illegally outside, including beyond the State’s boundaries.
The district administration has now made it mandatory that all sand extracted from the CRZ is sold only through the online portal, said Deputy Commissioner S. Sasikanth Senthil, the brain behind the initiative. “My priority is to ensure the city [Mangaluru] and the district get sand,” he said.
Mr. Senthil told The Hindu that the initiative should curb illegalities in sand extraction. “Earlier, extractors were saying they sell sand at ₹3,000 a load. Now they say it is insufficient. The committee has now fixed a rate of ₹550 a tonne, excluding transportation,” he said. Transportation charges are fixed at ₹2,000 for up to 20 km and ₹50 for every additional km thereafter.
The DC is set to meet senior officials of the Mines and Geology Department soon to share details of the system so that it can be emulated elsewhere in the State.
How it works
The system involves the customer, the transporter and the sand permit holder (dhakke owner). The buyer has to raise a demand on the portal, giving his or her personal details and indicating the quantity (three/seven/10 tonnes) and quality (coarse/medium/fine) expected. The portal is mobile-friendly and the committee plans to soon launch an app for the customer as well.
Once the order is placed, the respective dhakke owner will get an alert on his app while a transporter can pick the order through his app. The transporter reaches the dhakke and shares the assigned OTP with the owner owner before loading the sand. The customer has to provide the OTP he or she received once the consignment arrives.
The committee intends to sell sand dredged from Thumbe vented dam backwaters too through the portal shortly to address the void during the three-month holiday, Mr. Senthil added.
Automated payment
Once the customer pays for the sand online on https://dksandbazaar.com, the amount is automatically credited to the bank accounts of the transporter and the dhakke owner in three days.
Transporters and dhakke owners have to register with the District Sand Monitoring Committee by giving their bank account details. The committee will also put out a customer care facility for software usage and refund issues, if any.
While a few systems exist for booking sand online elsewhere, the Dakshina Kannada initiative is the first in the country that takes care of the sale of sand from end to end, the committee said.