Various forums representing sectors like transport, construction, architecture and general trade, joined by elected representatives, staged a protest rally at the taluk office premises in Sullia on Friday morning.
The protest was aimed at highlighting what they termed the biased and stepmotherly attitude of the district administration towards the local population in the matter of sand extraction and transport.
Zilla panchayat’s former president Asha Thimmappa spoke and said that because of the inconsistent policy of the state government a scarcity of sand had been created in the district. She added that the district administration had a dual policy – one for the district and another for the state.
She demanded that the gram panchayats themselves took upon the responsibility of supplying sand to the needy sectors.
President of the traders’ body P B Sudhakar Rai in his speech extended the full support from the business community. He said that it was an irony that in spite of having life-supporting rivers like Netravati, Kumaradhara and Payaswini, the district’s people were deprived of sand supply.
Prominent citizens like P B Divakar Rai, Jeevan Narkodu, Nagaraj Mestri and others were present on the occasion. Earlier, the protesters took out a procession from Lal Bahadur Shastri circle near Jyoti Hospital up to the taluk office.
The protest rally was flagged off at the circle by Sahaj Rai, DK unit of Jaya Karnataka organization, which also lent its full support to the protest. The procession from the L B Shastri circle was accompanied by over sixty lorries.