Addressing a press meet here on Monday, Mayur Ullal said that the Dakshina Kannada will be the first district in the state to install GPS to the trucks transporting sand, thus to put an end to the illegal transportation of sand. As many as 224 lorry owners have already paid the advance of Rs 5,000 each for the installation of the GPS.
The registration process for the GPS is under progress in Mangalore.
Stating that GPS will be installed to 500 lorries in the first phase, he said the documents such as name of the lorry owner, registration numbers will be given to the district administration and the department of Mines and Geology.
The control of the GPS will be managed by the department of Mines and Geology and the association.
He said the task force had instructed trucks that transport sand to carry a name-plate indicating ‘Sand transportation lorry.’ The trucks transporting sand will adhere to the colour code of diamond white for the bonnet and blue colour for the bumper along with the sticker on the left hand glass of the truck to identify the sand transporting lorry.
Moreover, the stickers will be issued only by the Joint Action Committee within 10 days at Nehru Maidan in Mangalore.
The GPS in trucks will be activated at a time, he added. The installation of the GPS had been given to ‘I Search’ Institute. The Joint Action Committee will also organise a workshop on sand mining and laws related to it for the owners, workers and transporters within 10 days to create an awareness on the laws related to sand mining.
‘Stocking of sand’
Ullal said that sand is being stocked in rainy season as the sand mining can not be undertaken during the monsoon. Though the law allows the stocking of the sand during rainy season, it does not clearly state on how much quantity of sand can be stocked by a person at a time. Even the Mines and Geology department had failed to create an awareness on stocking of the sand.
The sand is stocked not to create artificial scarcity and to increase the price,” he clarified. In fact, some Gram Panchayats were renting out its land for stocking the sand during rainy season, which is illegal according to the officials concerned, he added.