Scarcity of Sand Stage-managed by Vested interests in Udupi District – NECF Gen Secretary Shashidhar Shetty
Udupi: National Environment Care Federation general secretary H Shashidhar Shetty alleged that the hype of sand scarcity in undivided Dakshina Kannada district was stage-managed by vested interests. He urged Priyanka Mary Francis deputy commissioner of Udupi District, who is also chairperson of the district sand monitoring committee, not to renew or issue fresh permits allowing sand mining in the Coastal Regulation Zonal areas.
Speaking at a press meet held at the Udupi Press Club on Monday, November 5, he said CRZ rivers in DK and Udupi districts have already been ravaged. But the Ministry of Environment and Forest had permitted removing sandbars in the CRZ areas based on certain conditions. One of the important conditions imposed was that sandbars should be removed only if they pose danger to the navigation of fishing boats and vessels. None of the sandbars in the two districts obstruct navigation or fishing.
The list of 47 and 39 complaints received by Udupi and DK district administrations respectively are fake complaints obtained from villagers.
“The boat registration certificates attached with the complaint reveal that all these boats are fiberglass boats operating in the sea and never in the rivers,” Shetty has stated in the letter.
Sand contractors who had received permits in the past had complained that sandbars were obstructing their fishing boats. The list of applicants who had applied for the permit to mine sand are not traditional sand miners who use buckets or baskets to extract sand with help of non-mechanized dinghies or small boats, he added.
Shetty quoting official statistics stated that 9,87,179 metric tonnes of sand in Udupi and 8,50,627 metric tonnes of sand (4,30,357 tonnes of sand in 13 blocks in Netravati river and 4,20,270 metric tonnes of sand in Phalguni river) in DK were identified in CRZ areas for mining in 2017.
The usage of sand (Easy to estimate by calculating total cement usage of sand is easy to estimate by calculating the total cement used in the district through GST route) in the district shows a huge gap between the sand extracted and sand consumed. “So where is the huge quantity of sand from the districts going?,” he questioned and said that the hype of sand scarcity in undivided Dakshina Kannada district was stage-managed by vested interests.
The law permits only 1-meter height removal of sand from the ground in the river. But here the sand is removed up to 18 feet in high with the help of machines. By this act, drinking water sources like well, pond etc will become salty and hard. This can be proved by looking into the conditions at several islands in the district. Before 15 to 20 years sweet water was available in the wells and ponds of these islands. But because of illegal sand mining, salt water has mixed in the inner water making the condition of the water worse. The Panchayat is arranging water pipelines from other villages. It can be proved by looking into the condition of the well water in Pavoor, Uliya and Bali Kudru of Kenjar Village in the banks of river Netravathi and Heri Kudru of Kundapur Udupi Taluk which has become salty since 15 years.
The sand removing contractors shall not utilize labourers. This has been clearly expressed in the directions of the Central Environment Department. Sand miners have clearly violated the rules by employing hundreds of labourers from North India, Bihar, Orissa etc which is a clear-cut violation of the rules.
Because of the sand mafia business, women are not able to around freely in the villages of Tallur, Uppina Kudru and Hery kudru. Unknown sand laborers roaming in the villages day and night has become dangerous for women in such localities.
Permission is given not on the basis of the count of sandbars in the Sy No but permission is given more than the prescribed limit, and only the Sy No of the sandbar is given to the contractors. But till today the mine and Geological department officers have not marked the sandbars in a scientific manner. In this regard, no documents are maintained in the biological mine and Geological Department. The place of sandbar should be marked properly by locating 4 poles around and should be tied by a red tape on 4 sides allowing contractors to remove sand within the marked areas. Instead of using the area in allotted Sy. No. the contractors are using the complete river as they like for mining purpose using tractors, J C B, HITACHI, etc for loading and unloading.
As per the law, the sand removed from local areas it is supplied according to the demand of the locals as per the rate prescribed by District Administration. But around 90 percent of the sand removed from Udupi and Mangalore District is supplied to Kerala, Maharastra and Bangalore without any fear using 10 and 12 wheeled lorries.”
As per law, it is prohibited to stock and transport sand. It is also prohibited to remove sand 500 mts to 250 mts from the left and right side of all the bridges. But in our district, illegal sand mining is running even in rivers below the national highway. The video records have been submitted.
After getting the permission most of the license holders have rented the license to two or more persons and are earning Rs 60 to 70 thousand per month. By this single license, 2 to 3 people are illegally mining sand day and night using hundreds of laborers.
Commenting over the protest by Udupi MLA Raghupathi Bhat, Shashidhar Shetty said it is ridiculous that Udupi MLA Raghupathi Bhat protests for sand without proper knowledge. As a peoples Representative, he should work legally but he is misleading the common people. The CRZ regulations are not only restricted for India but applicable across the world. The deputy commissioner cannot overrule the CRZ norms but she can give permission for sand extraction only under the law. She has agreed to give permission for 98 persons but MLA Raghupathi Bhat’s team is objecting and demanding permission for 171 persons which shows that MLA Raghupathi Bhat is working for the sand Mafia and not in the interest of the people, he alleged.
Speaking about Pejawar Swamiji’s participation in the Sand protest Shashidhar Shetty said that the Swamiji is also misled by the sand mafia. He should support to save the environment but sadly he too is participating in the protest, he said.
Premananda Kalamdi, Narayan Bangera, Raghavendra, Bhaskar Shetty were present in the protest.
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