JOIN USDespite the fact that it has been 16 years since the taluk’s Begur lake has been filled, it has not benefitted the residents of the catchment area in anyway. Instead, it is a boon to the people involved in sand mining trade.
More than 20 people have lost their lives while attempting to collect the sand illegally. The residents have condemned the failure of the officers at putting an end to the illegal sand mining trade.
The Begur lake, spread across 700 acre and repaired after the damage caused by the heavy rain that poured 16 years ago, has not filled ever since. The attempts made to fill the lake through Hemavati water canal, have proved largely unsuccessful.
Illegal sand mining used to take place here regularly. Huge pits were dug using JCBs and sand was transported from the dried up lake using lorries and tractors. Though transportation using lorries has stopped with the intervention of the police and revenue department, it has been continued using tractors, complain the residents of the village.
Bullock cart owners from places around Begur lake such as Mallaghatta, Kapanipalya, Mavinakatte and Kunigal have been carrying on the illegal business of sand mining. Tunnels have been dug in six places and sand is being collected from the tunnels that are half a kilometer away.
More than 20 people who have gone to collect sand this way, have lost their lives with only a handful of cases being reported at the police station.
The police too are taking a humanitarian approach and are not taking strict action against the bullock cart owners.
This is being misused by the cart owners, who come to the lake everyday early in the morning at 6 am to collect sand and manage to collect three bullock cart loads of sand by 10 am. This profitable business fetches them Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 per cart load. The lives lost to this business disturb the owners for only a while but do not stop them from making money.
It is young men who generally have lost their lives to the sand trade wanting to make more money and there have been cases where the negotiations in such cases are settled by offering up to one lakh rupees as compensation.
These incidents cannot be easily controlled as there are powerful politicians involved. If the officials concerned do not take immediate action, more lives will be lost to this trade, say residents of the village, Narayana, Ranganna, Timmegowda and Srinivas.