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Raids on sand transporters reveal revenue loss

Last Updated 18 March 2016, 20:15 IST

Raids on sand transporters, including illegal sand miners, by the Bengaluru district authorities have revealed that both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are suffering a huge revenue loss.

Sources in the district administration said the sand transporters do not have permits either in Karnataka or Tamil Nadu and they also do not pay royalty in either state.

A senior district officer said, “The sand mining activities in Tamil Nadu are also running illegally. The excavation of filter sand is prohibited in Tamil Nadu, just like in Karnataka. Yet it is flourishing on both sides of the border near Attibele and Hosur.”

Due to the raids, trucks from Tamil Nadu have stopped coming to Bengaluru via Hosur and Attibele, while filter sand production in Bengaluru has been badly hit.
 Already many transporters in the sand business have discontinued their activities due to the lack of permits for sand extraction and transport in the State.

Rajanna, who had been in this business for almost a decade, said that he had stopped transporting sand for the past six months as it has become impossible.

He said, “Extraction and transportation of filter sand is prohibited in the State. Many transporters had to pay a hefty fine, somewhere between Rs 45,000 and Rs 50,000 whenever they transported filter sand illegally. There is hardly any profit left in this business. Hence, I have stopped transporting it.”

He felt the construction industry will feel the heat as sand prices in the City will escalate further.

Devaraj, another sand transporter, said that sand coming from Tamil Nadu is of good quality. However, once the supply is stopped, getting good quality sand would be very difficult, he added.

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(Published 18 March 2016, 20:15 IST)

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