Govt turning blind eye to sand mining: Shettar

 Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar on Wednesday charged the State government with turning a blind eye to rampant illegal sand mining.

The BJP leader, who sought to move an adjournment motion on the issue, said the government had failed to check illegal sand mining mafia. Artificial scarcity had been created leading to increase in sand prices. Influential people are part of the mafia, he said.

The State exchequer is incurring huge losses due to the illegal mining. A large number of lakes have dried up due to illegal sand mining. Those holding lease to mine sand have encroached large tracts of area, throwing all rules to the winds, Shettar said.

Deputy Speaker N H Shivashankara Reddy told Shettar that he would give an opportunity to him to make a submission on the issue under a different rule before the end of this session.

Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha leader K S Puttannaiah said steps taken by the government to prevent illegal sand mining had only decentralised corruption and increased sand prices in the market.

Officials at the lower rung such as sub-inspectors had started demanding bribe for supplying sand. The mafia was charging about Rs 50,000 for a truck load of sand, he said.