Mangaluru : Members of the BJP local unit staged a protest in front of the DC’s office on Tuesday, demanding that the loopholes in the sand policy be set right.

They also demanded that the sand policy be simplified, to ensure that sand is available in the district.

Addressing the protesters, BJP leader Ravishankar Mijar said that owing to severe shortage of sand supply to the city suburbs and rural areas, construction work has come to a standstill. “Several projects that are in advanced stages of completion and scheduled for handover in the coming months have been affected the most, due to the non-availability of sand. Many house owners or building owners wants to complete the work on their houses/buildings before the onset of monsoon. Due to the non-availability of sand, however, the works have come to a standstill. The non-availability of sand has also affected the lives of construction labourers who come to the City from North Karnataka in search of employment,” he said.

“If the government does not act immediately and find a solution, the works and the workers are both going to be seriously impacted,” Mijar warned.

“Construction sector is considered the biggest employment and revenue generator but the government seems to be least concerned by the problems faced by it. By creating legal hurdles for mining in non-CRZ areas, the authorities are creating artificial shortage of sand. At present, the district administration has issued a tender order to 11 persons for extracting sand. The latter, however, have permission to extract sand and transport it to stockyard, which is situated at B C Road. If one has to transport a load of sand worth Rs 4,000 from B C Road to Mangaluru, one will have to shell out even more for transportation. In such a scenario, will poor people be able to construct their dream house?” he asked.

Mijar also said that the naturally available sand in Dakshina Kannada is transported illegally to the neighbouring Kerala by the sand mafia. The authorities have failed to act against the illegal transportation of sand, he complained.

Corporator Sudheer Shetty accused the district in-charge minister and the district administration of being hand-in-glove with the sand mafia.

“The work on concrete roads is pending in the Mangaluru City Corporation limits due to the non-availability of sand. If the authorities fail to solve the problem over the non-availability of sand, then the BJP will intensify its protest across the district,” he warned.