Dist administration not taking steps to check sand mining: Roshan Baig

District in-charge minister Roshan Baig has said that the district administration had not been taking concrete steps to prevent rampant illegal sand mining in the district.

Speaking at the quarterly progress review meeting of Karnataka Development Programme here on Saturday, the minister said that the district administration and the police were not doing enough to check unabated illegal sand quarrying in Chikkaballapur district.

“The police have remained mute spectators even as loads of sand are being transported by trucks and tractors. The officials of the district administration and the police are hand in glove with the sand miners,” he said. Except booking a few cases - just for the sake of creating record - no decisive steps had been taken to arrest the illegal practice. The deputy commissioner and the superintendent of police, despite knowing that rampant sand mining adversely affects groundwater, have not evinced any interest to contain illegal sand mining.

Deputy Speaker in the Legislative Assembly N H Shivashankara Reddy also said that the officials deputed for keeping a check on illegal sand mining were themselves becoming part of the mafia. The police, instead of initiating action against the guilty are booking false cases against innocent villagers, he said.

Superintendent of Police Dr Divya Gopinath, however, claimed that the police had taken several steps to check illegal mining in the district. “We have taken several measures to curb illegal mining. Police forces have been deployed at strategic locations,” she said. Deputy Commissioner Dr M V Venkatesh said that a committee comprising tahsildar, engineer of Public Works Department and other officials would soon be formed to curb illegal mining.

Meanwhile, legislators M Krishna Reddy and M Rajanna alleged that though the vehicles transporting sand are seized, the sand so seized was not being auctioned. They said that according to officials of the PWD, no space is available to stock the seized sand. “If no space is available, land could be taken on rent for stocking seized sand,” he said.

MLCs Y A Narayanaswamy and Tuppalli Chowda Reddy said that the police and other officials were facilitating sale of sand in Bengaluru. “The problem has arisen since the PWD is not auctioning the seized sand. Instead of selling the sand in Bengaluru, it could be auctioned and sold within the district itself,” Superintendent of Police Dr Divya Gopinath said. Minister Roshan Baig said that a memorandum would be submitted to the  Chief Minister seeking steps to prevent illegal mining in the district.