Mangaluru : The district administrations of Mysuru and Dakshina Kannada — two districts that continue to see rampant illegal sand extraction — are putting in place vigilance mechanism along the rivers in an attempt to check the menace.

While Mysuru district police have introduced patrolling the Cauvery and its tributaries by boat, Dakshina Kannada administration, in an order issued on Wednesday, banned keeping boats used for sand extraction and sand loading equipment within 2 km of river banks till August 15.

The initiative in Mysuru has already seen some results, with the police stumbling upon more than 50 coracles and equipments used for illegal extraction of sand in T. Narsipur taluk earlier this week. With illegal sand extraction suspected to be continuing in the 18 to 20-km stretch of the Cauvery between Talakad and T. Narsipur bridge, considered to be a rich source of the much-sought-after river sand, the district police hired a motor boat from a nearby private resort for a surprise inspection of the river waters.

“On the first day of the raid itself we seized 22 iron coracles, besides a couple of wooden coracles and several bamboo logs used for extracting sand from the river,” said a police official, who participated in river patrolling. However, no arrests were made, said inspector of T. Narsipur police station Manoj Kumar.

People of the nearby villages extract sand; sand extracted from nine to 10 coracles makes one truckload, said Deputy Superintendent of Police of Mysuru Rural Vikram Amte. The Department of Police plans to recruit boat operators and train the police in river patrolling, besides buying a motor boat.

Meanwhile, Mangaluru Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim, in a separate magisterial order on Wednesday, authorised 13 checkposts of different departments located on national and State highways leading out of the district to inspect all vehicles moving through them. He asked the authorities to seize any vehicle found carrying sand, and book cases.

There is a high demand for sand from the coastal district of Dakshina Kannada in far-off places such as Bengaluru, Mysuru and even cities in the neighbouring State of Kerala. This has led to rampant extraction as well as inter-district transportation of sand. Despite complete prohibition on inter-State transportation, extensive illegal transportation to Kerala has been going on, allegedly with backing of politicians.