Dakshina Kannada to relax ban on sand mining

Construction industry in Dakshina Kannada district is likely to heave a sigh of relief as the district administration has decided to relax ban on sand excavation from riverbeds under the coastal regulation zone.

The administration had banned sand excavation during June-August period.

AB Ibrahim, Deputy Commissioner of the district, told presspersons in Mangaluru on Thursday that the district-level committee to look into the issue has decided to relax the ban to allow ‘minimum sand mining’ till August 31.

He said the licence holder will be allowed to mine 10 loads of sand a month from an acre of space on the riverbed. Earlier, they were allowed to mine 100 loads of sand a month from an acre of area.

This relaxation has been done to take care of the requirement of the construction sector in the district.

Stating that various government projects are going on in the district, he said these works require around 200 loads of sand a month.

Many labourers dependent on the construction sector have started migrating to other places as the ban on sand excavation had brought the construction work in the district to a standstill. He hoped that the relaxation will help them.

Ibrahim said that inter-district and inter-State transportation of sand will not be allowed till August 31.

To a query on illegal transportation of sand from the district, he said the district administration is planning to constitute a special squad to look into this issue. The district has many porous borders with other districts and Kerala, he said.

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