'GPS must for trucks transporting sand'

There are 25 escape routes in the border areas of DK for illegal transportation

Speaking at the Karnataka Development Programmes review meeting here on Monday, he said permits of those trucks, which fail to imstall  GPS will be cancelled.

Stating that contractors of sand mining are resorting to goondaism, he said that the officials have been assaulted by them.

“There are 25 escape routes in the border areas to illegally transport sand to Kerala,” the DC said

It is impossible for the district administration to deploy personnel at all these routes. To avoid the inconvenience for the locals in getting sand, the district administration had decided that the house owners should get NOC from the Gram Panchayat on the construction of house to transport sand.

MLAs Ramanath Rai and U T Khader said that owing to the illegal transportation of the sand, there is artificial shortage of sand in the district. Poor are not getting sand to construct houses. There is a need to have a sand policy in the district, they added.

Forest Dwellers Act

The DC said under Forest Dwellers Act, tribals who have encroached the forest land and are residing in the land for the last 75 years are entitled to get the title deeds. The district committee had received 1,040 applications under the Forest Dwellers Act.
However, 800 applications were rejected as the families failed to produce the certificates to prove that they were residing in the region for the last 75 years. Of the remaining 240 applications, 150 applications have been cleared by the district level committee. The title deeds will be distributed after forest department completes the survey.

Bus stand

The DC informed the meeting that the private bus stand will be shifted after the monsoon.  The filling of the land identified for the private bus stand will commence after the monsoon.

He said the RTA has nearly 500 applications seeking for new permits for the buses. The KSRTC had applied for more than 150 permits. Inspite of issuing permits for plying 12 buses in rural areas, bus owners have failed to operate the buses. Hence the RTA had issued notices to cancel the permits. However, bus owners had brought stay from the court for the cancellation of permits. District-in-Charge Minister Krishna Palemar urged the Deputy Commissioner to issue permits on priority basis. There are many routes, where there are no buses. Why the KSRTC did not apply for permits to run buses in those areas, he asked. ZP President Santhosh Kumar Bhandary, Standing Committee presidents were present.

Committee to probe

Zilla Panchayat CEO Shivashankar said a committee has been constituted to probe into the huge quantity of fertilisers and pesticides meant for the distribution to farmers which were found in an unused well near Kadri Park on June 10. All the materials were belonged to the Horticulture department. The team include ZP Chief Accounts Officer, Agriculture department Joint Director and Assistant Director. The team will submit the report by June 25. A district-level officer will also be included in the enquiry committee to supervise the enquiry, said DC V Ponnuraj.