Mangaluru : Angered by the illegal acitivity of unchecked sand transportation to Kerala from the district coast, , citizens of Manjanady village, withheld sand trucks in protest.

The protesters said, Acute shortage of sand is experienced by people who had planned to construct houses and buildings here, due to the illegal sand transportation into Kerala from our coast. This has also led to unemployment if worker in construction. Repeatedly, the department which have to check the illegal activity, have turned a blind eye and that has encouraged more number of trucks, to carry sand to Kerala from Konaje via Manjanady.

They said, nobody would object, to sand transportation, if it had not led to shortage of sand in this region. ‘These sand trucks also cause a number of accidents, because they move at high speed knowing that they are transporting sand illegally. The drivers are ignorant, and arrogant and have a don’t care attitude to human life. Hence the people of this region will have to take to protest to highlight this serious issue,’ the protesters complained.

Three sand trucks which were found to be moving towards Kerala were intercepted and handed over to Konaje police by the protesters.

Protesters were requested to calm down and Konaje police sub-inspector, Sudhakar, took the trucks into custody Earlier, the Kalkatta residents had stopped a sand truck and handed it over to police, but no action was taken against it owner, and instead truck was given back. Later, the truck was found to have been parked inside the compound of the truck owner. This action of the police caused resentment among citizen who acted promptly.