Kundapur :  Residents of Basrur on Februry 20, Wednesday  staged a protest against unabated sand mining from the Haladi river . The protest was staged after several complaints since the past one and a half years against the illegal sand mining fell on deaf ears.

Residents complain that sand was mined illegally all along the river from Basrur Garadimane till Kandlur bridge.

 As many as 300 workers are mining nearly 1500 lorry loads of sand, the villagers alleged and said the unabated sand mining has endangered several coconut trees in the vicinity while also posing problems to fishermen.

The villagers alleged that only 20 per cent of the sand miners in the area had valid licences while the  rest  are illegal miners.