Mangaluru : Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim on Thursday warned that he would impound boats indulging in illegal sand extraction from riverbeds in the coastal regulatory zones in the district.

Presiding over a pre-bid meeting of bidders for sand blocks in non-CRZ area here, Mr. Ibrahim said that following a gentleman agreement with sand extractors, the administration allowed berthing of sand extraction boats on the riverbanks on January 16.

The permission for sand extraction in the CRZ area given by Union Ministry of Environment and Forests expired on January 16.

The boats were allowed to be berthed on the plea that their removal might damage [the boats] and extractors would face difficulty in bringing them back to the river once the Ministry renewed clearance for extraction. However, there were many instances of extractors mining sand during the night and transporting it illegally, Mr. Ibrahim noted.