DC directs mines dept to open sand stockyard

Deputy Commissioner P I Sreevidya directed the officials of the Mines and Geology Department to open a sand stockyard in the district.

Chairing the sand monitoring committee meeting at the DC’s office hall in Madikeri on Wednesday, she said, “Sand extraction has been stopped from the last six months. Following the lack of supply of sand despite demands, elaborate debates have taken place regarding the same in the Zilla Panchayat general meeting and KDP meets.”

She insisted upon taking up speedy measures to make sand available for the general public.

The DC said that CCTV cameras should be installed at the sand stockyards and GPS based monitoring should be carried out on sand transporting vehicles.

A squad comprising police, revenue and transport officials should be formed to check illegal sand extraction and transportation.

Superintendent of Police Suman D Pennekar instructed the deployment of flying squad officials to check illegal transportation of sand.

Mines and Geology Department senior geologist Reshma said that 29 sand blocks were identified in the district. Among these, 12 blocks have been granted permission by the state authority.

Three sand blocks at Kadiyatturu and Emmemadu are set to be opened for the extraction of sand. Weighbridge and CCTV cameras have been installed.

Assistant commissioner T Javaregowda, DCF Manjunath and tahsildar Kusuma were present among others.

The police arrested a man on the charges of storing sand illegally, on the banks of a stream at Khyate in Kodlipet. The arrested man is a pickup vehicle driver named Ranjan.

Acting on a tip-off, the police raided the place where sand was stored illegally. Three persons fled the spot. The police arrested the pickup vehicle driver and 10 loads of sand from the spot.