Mangaluru: Deputy Commissioner S. Sasikanth Senthil has said there is no question of letting Coastal Regulation Zone ecosystem get further destroyed by excessive sand extraction.

The administration is conscious about the importance of the CRZ ecosystem and the consequences of unbridled sand extraction. It is taking steps in a phased manner to ensure orderliness in sand extraction, he said. Mr. Senthil told  that as against applications for permits for sand extraction by over 400 persons, the District Sand Monitoring Committee, of which he is the chairman, has granted permits to only about 90 applicants as of now.

The number of permits would not cross the one hundred mark, he said. Stringent norms, including proof for having engaged in traditional sand extraction for more than three years, would ensure limited number of permit-holders, he said. As of now, 90 of 270 total boats engaged in sand extraction are fitted with GPS as permit-holders have sought staggered installation of GPS owing to high costs.

Every permit-holder would have to equip all three boats with GPS in two months, he said. This would enable the administration to identify genuine extractors and illegal extractors and weed them out. The administration has already earmarked a four-acre plot on the banks of the Netravathi to dump unauthorised boats engaged in sand extraction, he said.

The administration would also invoke the lesser-known recent amended provision of the Karnataka Minor Minerals Concession Rules, Mr. Senthil said. As per the amendment, any vehicle seized for illegal transportation of a minor mineral, that includes sand, could be released through the court only after furnishing bank guarantee for the double the value of the vehicle.