JOIN US'Officers not acting against sand miners'
Members of Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene demanded action against constable Kannaiah, who was allegedly threatening them for speaking against illegal sand mining.
They submitted a memorandum, in this regard, to R S Peddappaiah, Additional Deputy Commissioner and Ram Niwas Sepat, District Superintendent of Police in Kolar on Wednesday.
“No action has been taken against illegal sand mining though we have been requesting the taluk and district administration constantly from eight months in this regard.
Everyday 700 to 800 trucks pass through National Highway 4 and reach Bangalore. But the administration has not taken any steps to check these, which has raised doubts in the public sphere,” they alleged.
The Deputy Commissioner Dr D S Vishwanath, on June 1, had directed the officers concerned to stop trucks carrying sand illegally and to book a criminal case against them.
On the same day, in a raid around 10 pm, a team consisting of Kolar Tahsildar, RTO rural police and staff of Mining Department had sieged 18 trucks near Tekal overbridge. Though they were informed that they can siege large number of trucks, they did not wait and just left the place.
This was followed by the members of Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene stopped 80 trucks carrying sand without licence and informed the police personnel. But they failed to come to the spot, they complained.
“Due to pressure from political circles and sand mafia, the officers from the Mining and Geology fined each truck of Rs 15,000 and then released the trucks after sometime. But according to the Geology Act, a criminal case must be booked against the owners of the trucks sieged and the sand should have been sieged by the district administration,” they explained.
If the illegal sand transport is not stopped within a month, the Sene will carry out raids around the district and the District Administration is responsible for the loss during the operation, warned the members.
Threatening
Members of the Sene, accused that constable Kannaiah has been threatening them constantly against their request to take action against the sand miners. They also said that he has tried to bribe them and when it did not materialise, he has threatened to book them under criminal case and putting them into jail for life time.
So the Sene members demanded action against Kannaiah and said if any of the Sene members are hurt or affected, he is responsible for it.
K Narayanagowda, president of district unit of the Sene; H V Harikumar, Krishnappa, Amaara Narayanaswamy, Munishwamy Gowda, Somashekhar and others were present.