“Two years ago, there was an analysis done on illegal sand mining on river beds in Karnataka, but till date, nothing has been done to curb the activity. Sand mining has become a big business where mud is procured, filtered and sold as sand, which is of sub-standard quality and does not have the binding strength,” Santosh Hegde said.
Final report
Regarding illegal mining in Bellary and Income Tax raid, he said he would approach the I-T department, if need be, for any information and would submit the final report on illegal mining by March 31 this year.
Published 06 January 2011, 18:01 IST