Kateel blames Udupi DC for sand crisis in dist

Udupi deputy commissioner is responsible for sand crisis in the district, said Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel.

Speaking to media persons on the Day Four of the indefinite overnight protest by the BJP, the MP said deputy commissioner (Priyanka Mary Francis) should act wisely. “She should be aware of the intricacies of law and at the same time the problems encountered by common man.”

He said the ban on sand mining in CRZ area was lifted and Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner was all set to take measures in the direction.

“To urge the Dakshina Kannada district administration to hasten the process, the BJP will take up a huge protest rally in Mangaluru on November 3. The district administration will be given an ultimatum of five days to set right the problem. If the Dakshina Kannada administration fails to solve the problem, the BJP will launch ‘salt Satyagraha’ and take public along with them to extract sand from sea and rivers to construct houses,” he warned.

Further, he said owing to the sand scarcity, the development works had come to a standstill. He alleged that state government had imposed a sort of “backdoor emergency” in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.

He insisted on separate sand policy for the coastal districts as the topography in the area differs from the rest of Karnataka. He demanded that the sand policy which was in place during the late BJP leader Dr V S Acharya’s tenure should be reintroduced.

MLA Raghupathy Bhat urged the CM to visit the protesters in Udupi during his proposed visit to Byndoor for an election rally on October 30.

He said a delegation from the district would approach the central government requesting for excluding Kundapur and Byndoor in the new CRZ map which emphasises on the eco-sensitive zones.