MYSURU | May 12, 2015: The scarcity of sand is Mysuru is so severe that the bourgeoning construction industry here has had to rely on sand extracted in the Nethravati estuary in Dakshina Kannada, even though it is high in salt content and can lead to cracks in the building, besides causing environmental damage.

On the other hand, M-Sand (manufactured sand) reaching the city is often adulterated with quarry dust to inflate volume and meet the demand.

In a bid to tide over this crisis, the State government gave special permission to extract sand from 40 acres of patta land (privately-owned agricultural land) in Nanjangud seven-weeks ago, exempting the land from the provisions of the Karnataka Minor Minerals Concession Rules in 2011, which forbids such extraction.

This was expected to help Mysuru tide over the crisis for at least two years.

However, Mysuru District Maralu Horatagarara Samiti, comprising contractors, construction labourers and lorry owners, says the government is going too slow on this process.

The samiti, which had taken out a padayatra to Bengaluru in March, has threatened another round of agitation if the government failed to intervene immediately.

Lingaraju, senior geologist of the Mines and Geology Department, Mysuru, told The Hindu that the problem was that there were many claimants for this piece of land and all their consent is necessary before work on extraction can begin by the Public Works Department.
“We cannot afford to have litigations,” he said.

(Source: http://www.thehindu.com/)