Illegal storing creates artificial shortage of sand

Illegal sand mining has been taking place rampantly in various parts of N R Pura limits for sometime now. A few tractor owners are hiding the illegally extracted sand which has resulted in artificial shortage of sand and increase in the sand rates.

As the water-level has decreased in Bhadra backwaters, sand mining is going in rampantly on the banks of the river. Though the sand available in this area is of poor quality, it is alleged that the same sand is supplied for the construction of government and other buildings. The sand collected now is stored in Menasoor, Ravoor, Siguvani, Moodabagilu and Jail road. Stored sand will be sold during monsoon at higher price when there is acute shortage of sand.

When there is artificial dearth, sand is sold for Rs 1,800 to Rs 2,000 per tractor. Even the local people are forced to pay double the amount to buy sand. “Earlier nobody used to extract sand and store them in abundance. Sand was transported in bullock cart, tiller or tractor whenever the necessity arised

and was sold for Rs 300 to 400 for one load of sand. But, now it has become a business and we are made to pay double the price. Continuous transportation of sand is damaging the road condition,” a villager said.

Sand mafia has also affected the construction of houses under Ashraya scheme. If the construction of a house needs 30 tractor loads of sand, one has to spend Rs 60,000 for purchasing sand. While, the sanctioned amount for the construction of house is only Rs 1.40 lakh, spending Rs 60,000 on buying sand has caused problem to the beneficiaries, said a beneficiary.

When Deccan Herald contacted MLA D N Jeevaraj, he said that he will direct the tahsildar to fix royalty to the sand and strictly follow the rules and regulations.

Tahsildar J Krishnamurthy said that he has written to the PWD seeking to solve the impending problem.