Ramdas ups ante on illegal sand transportation

Addressing the officers at a meeting here on Wednesday, Ramdas said, earlier only fine was imposed and the sand lorry was let off, and this was not taken too seriously by transporters and instances of illegal transportation continued.

Now, even the sand would be seized, he added.

More sand must be extracted from river banks, and sand must be made available as soon as possible, for those who produce a DD of Rs 4000 and number of checkposts must be increased, the minister said.

“State government is committed to fulfilling eight demands placed by the sand lorry owners. Following roster when auctioning the sand, higher labour charges, benefits such as ESI and PF to be extended, giving Rs 400 to those who lift sand using deep pans, and giving a part of works to department of mines and geology, than exclusively to contractors -- all these demands would be met with. However, dropping new sand policy, GPs getting earnings from sand auctioning and also that of awarding tender to the same contractors -- these demands won’t be met,” he said. He also instructed the RTO officials to act stern against those bringing in sand from other states.

“Seize the lorries and check the records and validity of documents of lorries carrying sand that come from outside the state. Act ruthlessly against those who have bought vehicles for agricultural purposes and use the vehicle for commercial reasons,” he said.     

Check posts

As for security at the checkposts, Ramdas said two home guards should be appointed along with regular policemen. Appointment of home guards at about 10 medical colleges, has evoked good response and this arrangement can be made to check illegal transportation of sand too. The guards should be paid Rs 176 per day,” he said.  

Tahsildar Manjunath who spoke on the occasion, said two acre land has been given to dump the seized sand near Rajshekhar hospital on ring road. “Lorries plying from Bannur, Talakad and T Narsipur would be thoroughly checked and seized if found illegally carrying sand,” he added.

Deputy Commissioner P S Vastrad, MCC Commissioner Raykar, Police Commissioner Sunil Agarwal, Superintendant of Police Manish Karbikar, Additional SP P Venkataswamy, ZP CEO G Satyavathi, DCF Manoj Kumar, DCP Rajendra Prasad and others were present.