District In-charge Minister U T Khader has said that steps will be taken to route M-sand to neighbouring Kerala to prevent smuggling from Dakshina Kannada.
He told reporters at Circuit House on Thursday that the main agenda of his government was to make river sand available to the public at an affordable price.
Smuggling
“Due to extensive smuggling of sand to Kerala, sand had become unavailable to local residents at affordable prices. To ensure the availability sand to the local people, imported sand will be routed to Kerala from either Karwar of Mangaluru port,” the minister explained.
If needed, imported sand would be transported to Kerala with the help of railways, he said.
“The state government will finalise the revised regulations on sand mining for areas under coastal regulation zone (CRZ) and a decision will be taken on October 15. A relaxation in regulations governing sand mining in CRZ areas has been sought in order to help traditional sand extractors,” said the minister.
A proposal regarding relaxation of guidelines has been placed before the Cabinet for approval, Khader also informed.
Bridges
“New bridges will be constructed at Moolarapatna and Gurupura. The government has released Rs 50 crore for the construction of the Moorapatna bridge, which collapsed recently. Also, Rs 35 crore was released for the construction of a new bridge at Gurupura,” said Khader.
The minister said that the old bridge will not be dismantled. Instead, the new bridges will be constructed beside the old bridges.
RTC issue
In response to a question on the problem of land conversion, Khader said that the problem was in relation to the RTCs. Issues such as wrong information in RTCs will be addressed in the revenue adalats, he added.
The minister, who had visited the Tulu Bhavan on Wednesday, promised to facilitate the release of grants to expedite the completion of the works on the Bhavan.