Udupi : Deputy Commissioner Dr Vishal R said sand mining will resume on Saturday in the district.

Speaking to mediapersons, he said 23 sand blocks have been identified in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) area and work will begin in 20 blocks and the remaining three will start functioning soon. In the non-CRZ area, 11 blocks have been identified. Among the, nine are under process. As much as 4,03,000 metric tonnes of sand is available.

The sand mining activities will go on up to May-end and the work shall be banned for two months due to rain, he added.

The deputy commissioner said the district is performing immensely better in the implementation of Sakala mission and stands second in the state, next only to Chikkaballapur.

He said the district is twice the better than all other districts in the delayed disposal and has been maintaining the top position constantly. Under Sakala, 14,575 files have been cleared which were processed for 36,000 times. The files’ disposal has increased almost 80 per cent. Chikkaballapur stands first owing to the inclusion of ‘Pahani’ within Sakala, he said.

Vishal said Chikkaballapur records 75,000 no-receipts per lakh population, while Udupi records 52,000 per lakh population. Udupi district has nearly nine lakh RTCs.

A conscious decision has been made not to add RTCs in Sakala. A request has been made for a change in Sakala in the procedure, he added.

The DC said 52 files are being cleared on an average and as many as 9,451 files have been attended by him for 27,713 times in a year. Approximately, 3,700 files are received for verification and disposal from 25 departments, he noted.

Vishal said the disposal rate of files in RTA meets stands at 98 per cent. He said 2,166 arbitration cases have been disposed of in one year in the process of national highway construction.

The DC said that revenue adalats are held constantly, which also act as grievance cells, where amendments are made. Nearly 121 acres of land has been given to Mescom, Housing Board and KIADB, he added.

Maximum funds under relief funds go for sea erosion, he noted.

He said funds are adequate under Calamity Relief Fund and Rs 24 crore has been spent on land acquisition. Rs 72 crore has been invested on various approvals and processing of works which are to be initiated in temples and surroundings.

Works worth about Rs 10 crore have been completed, he added.

He said there is 50 per cent shortage of staff in Grade 2 supervisory position. As many as 15,799 blocks are surveyed under Podi Muktha campaign in 11 villages.

He stated that Rs 5,000 will be given for cremation for BPL card holders.

Measures have been taken to overcome the shortage of surveyors, the deputy commissioner said.

Nine farmer suicides have been reported in the district. In this, six proposals have been accepted for compensation, Vishal said.

He said there is no drought situation in the district and Rs 1 crore has been released to supply water through tankers. Besides, Rs 173 lakh has been set aside for drinking water purpose and 19 villages are receiving tanker water, he added.