House panel blames PWD for escalating sand price in State

A House committee on illegal sand mining, which tabled its interim report in the Legislative Assembly on Friday, has blamed the Public Works Department for failing to properly implement the New Sand Policy -2011.

The panel headed by Congress MLA S Rafeeq Ahmed has stated in its report that the failure in implementing the policy had resulted in shortage of sand in the market which in turn led to escalation of sand prices.

The panel, in its report, has given a host of recommendations but has not touched upon contentious issue of illegal sand mining as it has not been mentioned in the terms of reference provided to the panel by the State government. Besides, it is silent on the charges made by the Opposition BJP and JD(S) that relatives of some ministers were involved in illegal sand mining.

The 2011 policy provided for setting up of  district-level committees with powers to fix retail prices of sand and formation of sand monitoring committees at district and taluk levels to monitor illegal sand mining.

The panel has pointed out that of the 727 sand mining concessions identified by Mines and Geology department, only 87 were operational. The committee has suggested that as many as 500 units be made operational by December 2015 to meet the requirement of sand. While the annual demand of sand stood at 23 million tonnes, availability is only 11 million tonnes.

The panel has recommended that the present restriction on inter-district transportation of sand be removed with immediate effect, while ban on inter-state transportation of sand be strictly implemented.

It has also suggested that a pilot project at Bengaluru and Hubballi be launched wherein the entire process of sand mining and auctioning is conducted by the government. It has recommended that police should seize vehicles transporting sand only on complaints by the local legislator, tahsildar and deputy director of Mines and Geology department.

The panel has also recommended that extraction of sand be allowed in patta land (private ownership) after signing a declaration with the land holder and due environmental clearance. It has suggested opening of more M-sand units by providing incentives to entrepreneurs.