Mangaluru: Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim held a press meet in connection to illegal sand mining activities at the DC office here, on April 23.
Addressing the mediapersons, DC Ibrahim said that DK district has been divided into two parts, the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) and the non-CRZ area. “195 acres has been identified as sand crop land in Netravati and Gurupur, and we have issued 168 licenses for sand mining in the area. We have also identified the Non-CRZ areas and restricted sand mining in these areas.”
DC further said that permission for sand mining in the 185 acres of land had been given for March 2015. “We did not put much pressure on those involved in sand mining because of the demand for sand. We understand the requirement of sand for people to build their houses.”
“So far we have collected Rs 175.2 lakh as royalty, Rs 116.8 lakh as administrative charges and Rs 2.92 lakh from special sand permits. We have also simultaneously formed a task force to look into the activities of sand miners. To monitor illegal sand mining, we have given authority to the PDOs, Revenue inspectors, Tahsildars, Gram Panchayat, police officers with rank above Sub-inspector, forest department officials with rank above Assistant Research Officer (ARO) and to the PWD officials with rank of Assistant engineer and above.”
47 cases of illegal sand transporting were registered from March 15 to April 15 and Rs 5.83 lakh was collected as penalty. 35 cases were booked for excess weight of transported sand and Rs 2.64 lakh was collected as penalty. 4 cases were booked for illegal sand mining in restricted areas and Rs 2.78 lakh was collected while 6 cases were booked for illegal sand transportation to the state of Kerala with Rs 1.45 lakh collected as penalty.
On April 21 and 22, 205 illegal sand transporting vehicles were seized from Mangaluru (45), Belthangady (34), Puttur (36), Bantwal (46), Moodbidri (15), Kadaba (1) and Sullia (28).
The forest department has been instructed to check sand mining vehicles at 6 check posts and take necessary action against the violators so that illegal sand mining is brought under control in the district. The raid will continue on illegal sand mining and transportation, and the violators will be severely punished.
“We have taken action to curb illegal sand mining and transportation. Transportation of sand in 10 wheeler vehicles has been banned. Tahsildars have been given permission to check sand transportation vehicles everyday. While transporting sand, the weight slip should be present with the driver. If the vehicle carries excess weight, then Rs 25,000 will be charged as penalty. The RTO should check the sand transporting vehicles, and anyone found breaking the rules should be penalized,” he added.
He also said that sometimes due to the quality of sand, problems with the quality of buildings arise such as leakage, etc. He also said that the quality of the construction of the DC office and the Women’s Polytechnic building, which are not too old, is not good due to the inferior quality of materials used.
Social and Educational Survey
DC Ibrahim also said, “In Dakshina Kannada district, only 38% of the social and educational survey has been completed. April 30 is the deadline to complete the survey. We have to complete 60% of the survey within a week of time. The Chief Minister is very much concerned about the survey. Enumerators should visit every house and collect all the details from the family members and insist the family members to answer all the questions. For any reason, the enumerators should not allow to fill the forms in pencil or ink pen, instead applications should be filled using a ball pen. While the enumerators are visiting the house, the members of the family should keep their EPIC, Aadhar and ration cards ready for the survey. The Deputy Commissioner is directly responsible for the survey and if the survey will not be completed by April 30, action will be taken against the concerned officers.”
DC Ibrahim also said that the public should co-operate with the enumerators by providing proper information and answer all the 55 questions.
The public can download the survey application from www.dk.nic.in, www.mangalorecity.gov.in and http://zpdk.kar.nic.in.
ZP CEO Sreevidhya, ADC Sadashiva Prabhu and others were also present.
