Mangaluru : A situation, which will be detrimental to the agricultural activities in Pajir village of Bantwal taluk, the main profession of which is agriculture, is created due to the rampant red mura mud mining that is taking place at Survey no 406/2B7 and 402/2P7 on a land of 1.05 acres, that is given to a private individual by the Mining and Geological department of Mangaluru. The local villagers are accusing that this mining is illegal.

A big business of sending Mura mud (mud of red stones) to outstation states is being carried out on a large scale. Thousands of tonnes of Mura mud is being transported to outstation states in trucks bearing Andhra and Tamil Nadu registration number plates. The labourers who are digging the mud are saying that this is being sent for use in the manufacture of cement. Even if permission is given for mining, there are conditions of digging only a certain amount of mud for a particular area. However, it seems all the conditions are thrown to air in this area and more than 30 truckloads of mud is being transported through trucks.

Many agriculturists live in the vicinity of the Mura mud mining area. In addition, this area is inhabited by people also. However, a huge crater is formed in the 1.05 acre of land similar to the Ballari mining area. The agricultural land will get completely destroyed if the rain water that gets accumulated in the crater and the mud mixed with it seeps into the underground area. The business has grown to such an extent that the locals are scared to speak about the same.

As much as 517 acres of land was acquired by KIADB, a decade ago, for establishing SEZ at Kairangala village of Bantwal taluk. Out of that Infosys is functioning on 353 acres of area. On rest of the land, a huge pile of Mura mud was dug and stored around seven to eight years ago, when second land of road was being constructed for SEZ. Later, the transportation of the same started through trucks.

The loading work is undertaken after sunset. Trucks make a beeline in this area in the evening. Loading is done with the help of Hitachi machines. On the trucks that bear the registration plates of outstation states, there are names of various cement companies including Ramco. As the trucks start moving during the night, the locals are suspecting that something fishy is going on in this area.

Mura mud is being illegally transported from other government land in Mudipu also. The silence of the police department over this issue has also given rise to suspicion.