Ex minister B Ramanath Rai urges BJP MLAs to address sand, laterite shortage

MANGALURU: Former Minister B Ramanath Rai on Wednesday urged BJP legislators from Dakshina Kannada to stop politicising the ongoing shortage of sand and laterite stones in the district and instead make sincere efforts to resolve the crisis.Addressing mediapersons, Rai said the royalty levied on laterite stone extraction needs to be reviewed, as per the long-standing demand of those involved in the sector. “Karnataka currently charges Rs 282 per tonne as royalty, while in neighbouring Kerala it is just Rs 32 per tonne. A reduction in royalty could ease the shortage significantly,” he said.Rai accused the BJP MLAs of shifting blame to the Congress-led state govt to cover up their own failures.

“It was the previous BJP govt that failed to issue permits for sand extraction in non-CRZ areas. This inaction is the root cause of the current sand crisis,” he alleged.Calling for urgent action, he said the district administration must expedite the process of floating tenders and issuing permits for sand blocks in non-CRZ zones to alleviate the shortage.“I am confident that the Congress govt will resolve this at the earliest. I have already raised the issue with the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the District Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao and requested necessary steps to ensure construction workers and labourers do not suffer,” Rai added.He clarified that the Congress govt has not introduced any policy that restricts the extraction of sand or laterite stones.