Mangaluru : Civil Contractors’ Association workers carried out huge protest against the State government alleging sand mafia which is badly hurting the coastal district.

They demanded the government to stop transportation of sand to other districts from Dakshina Kannada and allow sand mining from July 15 onwards.

Addressing a huge number of people, who were gathered inspite of heavy rains in front of DC office here on Thursday, Civil Contractors’ Association Working Committee Member Madhu Kumar said there is no proper sand transportation to construction works in the district from past one and half months. Because of the illegal sand transportation, price of one load of sand is gone up to Rs 15,000 from Rs 4,500.

Now, they offer poor quality of sand to localites and just tell ‘take, if you want’. This is just a warning sign for the authorities. If they don’t respond, the construction workers are going to call district bandh in coming days, he warned.

Consultative Civil Engineers Association president V V Mayya said the governments always treated the constructers as second-class labourers. They have to protest for each and every right. The government didn’t help them when the price of cement increased from Rs 300 to Rs 400 and when they didn’t get crushed stones.

“From past three months, 40,000 loads of sand has been transported from the district. Though only 200 loads can be transported in a day, more than 500 loads of sand is being transported. To stop this injustice, the contractors should stay united. The government should not misunderstand the silence of construction workers,” he added.

Civil Contractors’ Association President M Purushotham Kottary said once the state government started issuing permission for sand transportation to other districts, the illegal transportation started. Because of dearth of sand, the construction workers have no labour from past 20 days. Though memorandum has been submitted to the Deputy Commissioner, the issue didn’t solve. Now, a memorandum will be submitted to the Chief Minister through the DC. The government should allow the commencement of construction works, he said.

Tulunada Rakshana Vedike President Yogish Shetty Jappinamogru said the State may witness the suicide of contractors if the situation continues like this. Tuluvas respect laws, but the government is using the same law to put them in trouble, he said