Mangaluru: Notwithstanding illegal sand mining in the coast, Bantwal MLA Rajesh Naik has pitched for extending legal rights for sand mining. The matter is expected to be discussed at the ministerial level soon.Naik is of the opinion that increasing the scope for legal sand mining is the only way out to bring in accountability and make mining a profit-making business model to the exchequer.Convinced that the bridge connecting Mangaluru and Bantwal at Mullarapatna in his constituency collapsed due to rampant sand mining, Naik has already held a cursory round of talks in this connection with PWD minister H D Revanna on the sidelines of the assembly session on July 12.“Revanna said he would look into the matter. He said he will hold a detailed discussion on this issue,” Naik told TOI adding U T Khader, the only minister from the erstwhile Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, too, has assured support.“The government exchequer is boosted by a paltry amount of around Rs 60crore-Rs 70crore, when in reality sand worth several thousand crores is illegally mined. The proposed plan is just a suggestive to use sand mining as a positive prospect. Hence, we are contemplating at increasing the scope of mining. Talks in this regard are on,” Naik said.The MLA believes a robust system in place will bring in accountability to every heap of sand that gets mined. “Online registration of vehicles used in sand mining, installation of CCTV cameras at sand dunes, online surveillance of the trucks used in transporting sand are some of the measures we are looking at,” Naik said.Incidentally, the locals of Mullarapatna under the organization Nagarika Hitarakshana Samiti had in December 2015 submitted a memorandum (TOI has a copy) to the then district deputy commissioner A B Ibrahim alleging that sand mining had been on the rise for at least five years.Grant soughtFor now, Naik said he has submitted a memorandum to Revanna urging to release a grant of Rs 30 crore for the reconstruction of the bridge. On the occasion, he also submitted a set of photographs showing base of the pillars of the Mullarapatna bridge, which were visible after the level of sand had declined considerably due to rampant mining.

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