Sand Row: State Government has Imposed a Sort of ‘Backdoor Emergency’ – MP Nalin
Udupi: The life of common people of Udupi and DK district have been the worst hit because of the scarcity of sand, many have not been able to build their houses and other buildings. Development works of the government have also been hit said Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel.
He was speaking at a press meet held at Manipal on Sunday, October 28. In spite of sand being available abundantly, the district is facing the ‘sand drought’. It is affecting the construction activities. All the construction activities, including the government-sponsored construction works, have come to a standstill, he charged.
The state government and the deputy commissioner are responsible for the shortage of sand in Udupi district and also for failing to issue permits for the extraction of sand in September. The Deputy Commissioner should act wisely. “She should be aware of the intricacies of law and at the same time the problems encountered by the common man.”
He said that the ban on sand mining in CRZ area was lifted and the Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner was all set to take measures in the direction.
“To urge the Dakshina Kannada district administration to hasten the process, the BJP will take up a huge protest rally in Mangaluru on November 3. The district administration will be given an ultimatum of five days to set right the problem. If the Dakshina Kannada administration fails to solve the problem, the BJP will launch the ‘salt Satyagraha’ and take the public along with them to extract sand from the sea and rivers to construct houses,” he warned.
Further, he said owing to the sand scarcity, the development works had come to a standstill. He alleged that the state government had imposed a sort of “backdoor emergency” in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.
He insisted on a separate sand policy for the coastal districts as the topography in the area differs from the rest of Karnataka. He demanded that the sand policy which was in place during the late BJP leader Dr V S Acharya’s tenure should be reintroduced.
MLA Raghupathi Bhat urged the CM to visit the protesters in Udupi during his proposed visit to Byndoor for an election rally on October 30.
He said a delegation from the district would approach the central government requesting to exclude Kundapur and Byndoor in the new CRZ map which emphasizes on the eco-sensitive zones.