With the ban on sand extraction from rivers in the Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) coming to an end on Monday and a new set of guidelines coming into force from Tuesday, doubts are being expressed whether permit holders could resume extraction, after fulfilling the conditions. The committee, constituted under Additional Deputy Commissioner Kumar by the then Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim to frame guidelines for sand extraction in the CRZ areas, has formed a set of rules to be implemented from Tuesday. The principal among them include the deployment of only conventional boats (Naada Doni); two boats per permit holder; ban on deployment of any kind of machinery or equipment even to load sand onto trucks; permits only for traditional extractors; registration of boats with the Mines and Geology Department. Mr. Kumar told The Hindu that the rules, except the one on giving permits to traditional permit holders, would come into force on Tuesday itself. Since permits have been given for April 2016 to March 2017, the district-level sand monitoring committee would not intervene in the issue, he said. He said that Deputy Commissioner K.G. Jagadeesha visited some of the sand extraction sites in the CRZ areas to take stock of the situation. Mr. Kumar said that it is doubtful whether the permit holders would be able to comply with the guidelines immediately. If it is not done, they would not be allowed to extract sand. In-charge Deputy Director of Mines and Geology Department Nagendrappa said that 1,290 boats have so far been registered; but the department is yet to inspect them. If they do not fall under the specified category, the boats would not be allowed into the rivers, he said. Support for admin Meanwhile, president of the Joint Action Committee, Sand, the association of sand contractors and transporters, Mayoor Ullal has said that the committee fully supported the administration. We have to earn for a living and at the same time have to protect the environment for the next generation, he said. The committee had always been for traditional extraction of sand, but unfortunately the number of permit holders rose dramatically from 61 in 2011 to over 400 in 2016. The administration was under severe pressure from all political parties to issue permits to their supporters and hence, this abnormal increase, he said. Consequently, unbridled sand extraction started jeopardising the ecology, Mr. Ullal regretted. Since the committee supported the administration, there were attempts to weaken it by forming a parallel forum; but it would not succeed, Mr. Ullal said.
2016, The Hindu