DK authorities keep vigil at ready-mix concrete plants

MANGALURU: The District Task Force on sand mining will keep a close watch on ready-mix concrete plants in Dakshina Kannada district.
After the ban of sand transportation in multi-axle trucks to Bengaluru and Mysuru, the Dakshina Kannda district administration has made efforts to ensure that sand transportation is under administrative control. The district administration has decided to crack down on illegal entities that transport sand to other states through ready-mix concrete plants.
Deputy commissioner A B Ibrahim said that sand is being transported to Kerala in ready-mix concrete machines. "Many plants are functioning in Mangalore city limits, Ullal and gram panchayats adjacent to Kerala border, which are actually excessive compared to the sand requirement. The Mangalore City Corporation, Dakshina Kannada zilla panchayat and Ullal town municipality should prepare a list of licensed ready-mix plants in their jurisdiction. Meanwhile, the task force led by assistant commissioners, tahsildars, officials of mines and geology department, and police should conduct raids and take action against such plants," Ibrahim said.
At an emergency meeting held on Tuesday, the DC directed the officials to act against contractors who use excavators, bulldozers, dredgers, earth movers and other equipment while extracting sand from river beds.
"We have found that machines are being used to extract more sand from riverbed. Moreover, although contractors are allowed to use only three boats, the task force found dozens of boats ferrying sand violating norms at the three notified areas - Kulur, Jappinamogaru and Kannur. The machines will be siezed and handed over to public works department," the DC said, adding that police sub-inspectors, panchayat development officers, revenue inspectors, social welfare officers, village assistants and many other government officers have the power to act on illegal sand extraction and transportation.
"It is an open challenge to the entire state. The district administration will provide financial support to seize sand, machines and multi-axle trucks that transport sand. Make weighing of sand-laden truck mandatory and check whether the vehicle has permissible quantity of sand in it," Ibrahim directed officials.
Permit validity
At present, the permits issued for each truck load of sand expires in three days. The DC directed the officials of mines and geology department to reduce the validity period to 24 hours. The move is aimed at checking violation by contractors, who transport more than one truck load of sand within three days using a single permit. The DC has also directed officials to set up check-posts equipped with CCTV cameras with the help of police and home guards at Sampaje, Charmadi, Thalappady and Surathkal to check illegal transp ortation of sand. Mines and geology department deputy director N Ramappa said that there are 168 license holders for sand mining in the district. As per rules, a license holder may extract 6,000 metric tonnes of sand from one acre of demarcated land annually, he add ed.