Sand to be imported Phillipines and Indonesia to Karnataka: Minister

Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs T.B. Jayachandra has said that natural sand will be imported from the Phillippines and Indonesia to Karnataka. He said at a meeting at the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Tumakuru city on Saturday that the sand, including transportation, costs Rs.800-Rs.1000 per tonne. Anybody can import sand under open general licence to meet the present demand of the construction industry. The government is also promoting M-sand and there are 14 M-sand manufacturing units in Tumakuru district. He directed Deputy Commissioner K.P. Mohan Raj to close down units which do not manufacture M-sand according to the technical specifications and also those units which cheat people by supplying dust in the name of M-sand. Filtered sand banned Mr. Jayachandra said that filtered sand is banned in the State and action will be taken against those who sell it as buildings constructed using filtered sand may not even last for 10 years. He told the officers concerned to create awareness on how filtered sand can be dangerous for the construction of buildings and to promote M-sand for construction. Stones available in Tumakuru, Ramanagara and Chikkaballapura districts are suitable for manufacturing M-sand. He directed the officers to ensure that M-sand manufacturing units install seismometers to monitor the intensity of blasts made to break rocks using explosives. Mining-affected areas Mr Jayachandra said that providing drinking water to mining-affected taluks in the district including Chikkanayakanahalli and Gubbi should be of top priority. Construction and repair of anganwadi and school buildings should also be taken up in these taluks, he added.