In a major relief to people waiting for sand to carry out their construction activities, the District Administration has decided to take steps to release seized sand and also distribute M-sand according to requirements.

At a review meeting of District Mineral Foundation at the Deputy Commissioner’s office this morning, Deputy Commissioner D. Randeep who is also the chairman of the Foundation, directed the officials from the Mines and Geology Department to take immediate steps to get permission from the courts to release sand that has been seized by the Police all over the district.

Superintendent of Police Ravi D. Channannavar told the DC that they had seized more than 400 tonnes of sand that were being illegally transported from river beds across the district. “These seized trucks, along with the sand, are parked at Police stations and no steps have been taken to release the sand,” he said. The SP added that the seized trucks were consuming a lot of space at the Police stations.

Responding to the SP, Randeep questioned Somashekar who is the Deputy Director of Mines and Geology regarding the demand for sand and its availability in the district. He asked the officer to present details on the number of government projects pending due to non-availability of sand and also the pending projects owned by private parties. He also asked him about the availability of M-sand and the sand that has been seized by the Police.

The officer, however, was unprepared for the meeting and failed to table statistics. Upset by the officer’s attitude, the DC asked him not to come for meetings just for the heck of it. The officer was chided by the DC for lack of information and he was asked to furnish details for the next meeting.

Other officials and the Police were told to approach courts to release the 400-tonne sand that have been seized by the Police across the district including Hunsur, T. Narsipur and H.D. Kote. The DC said that while allotting sand and M-sand, priority will be given to government projects and then private applications would be considered.

ZP CEO M. Shivashankar and Narasimharaja Assistant Commissioner of Police Umesh G. Shet were present.