Udupi: Udupi District Lorry Owner’s Association has set a deadline of November 22 for the district administration to solve the sand issue in the district.

Addressing a press conference at Bannanje Guru Auditorium on Tuesday, October 23, Udupi District Lorry Owner’s Association president Pravin Suvarna said that deputy commissioner after protests on October 22nd night has assured to allow sand mining in respective CRZ and non CRZ zones in next twenty days. “The DC has spoken personally to the chief minister about it. Therefore, we will not support the protests on October 25 in the district,” he said.

“There were 171 license holders in the past. Applications for giving permission to 65 sand decks are called for now. Giving permissions for CRZ and non CRZ areas at different dates may cause friction. As there are several legal drawbacks and government holidays, we are giving them 30 days’ time limit. We will call for protests in front of DC’s office on November 22, if permission is not given in next thirty days. There is no question of leaving without permission. We want permission in Kundapur non CRZ area except where fish is being stored. We are able to get 17,000 metric tonne sand per day at the rate of five loads which means 23 loads sand can be removed from one deck. Non CRZ licence holders should be given priority in their respective gram panchayat,” urged Kaup- Katpady Lorry Drivers Association president Chandra Poojary.

“GPS installed in lorries are defective. No receipts are given for GPS purchased after paying Rs 11,000. As the GPS from Mangaluru based ‘I search company’ lacked quality, the district administration ordered to install GPS from Bengaluru based ‘T for View Company’ in lorries to keep a tab on sand mining. Old GPS was replaced with new GPS as per the directions from district administration. But the district administration has not issued a bill for the expensive GPS yet. As T for View Company’s GPS are also found to be defective, the district administration has disqualified it and called for tenders for new GPS.

Lorry and tempo owners are not in a position to install new GPS. The matter has been brought to the notice of deputy commissioner on Monday night and the lorry owners feel cheated. Owners of sand mining vehicles have not resorted to illegal sand mining anywhere. It is the work of district administration to prevent illegal sand mining. Let them install CCTV cameras in check posts. The district administration should install GPS on sand transporting lorries at their own cost,” demanded Chandra Poojary.

Gunakar Shetty of Kundapur committee, Rajesh from Perdoor committee and Udaya Kumar from Karkala committee were present.

Meanwhile, Udupi DC Priyanka Mary Francis in her notification dated October 23 has stated that a letter is written to the government to bring necessary amendments to the present law. She stated that she has written to the government to give up tender process in taluk and district centres and give permission like the ones given five years ago in the local panchayat limits giving priority to local people. The letter written to the government is regarding need for amendments to KMMC 1994 sub section 2017 31ZB-A.

The DC further stated that 30 days time has been sought for identifying new sand blocks in CRZ and non CRZ areas afresh, so that approval for them can be obtained and it can be ensured that the general public would be able to get sand at the same time. She said that she has already written to the deputy commisisoner of Dakshina Kannada district relating to giving permission to transport sand from Dakshina Kannada district to Udupi in tune with the demand of the lorry owners association.

She added that the government has been asked to modify the rule relating to identifying of sand blocks in seabeds in non-CRZ areas within a kilometre of the areas specified as it has been found impossible to identify such blocks which can conform to the rules in force now. The letter has also mentioned about the need to reduce the ecologically sensitive areas falling under the seabeds in Kundapur and Byndoor taluks.

The government has also been requested to drop the procedure of calling for tenders in taluk and district headquarters, and instead, issue permission at the panchayat level by giving priority to locals. The rules should be suitably changed to permit new persons from the same gram panchayat to take part in the tender if the individual gram panchayats do not have people backed by the experience of holding five years licence for sand extraction, she said in a press release.