Siddalinga Swami to move court seeking action against illegal sand mining in Kalaburagi

Accusing the district administration and the district Sand Monitoring Committee of failing to take any action against the Deputy Director of Mines and Geology and the Chittapur tahsildar for failure in stopping illegal sand mining at Bagodi in Chittapur taluk of Kalaburagi district, State Shiv Sena president Siddalinga Swami has said that he will approach the High Court of Karnataka seeking action against the district authorities and the Sand Monitoring Committee, if they fail to act against the officials.

Addressing a press conference in Kalaburagi on September 25, Siddalinga Swami said that a team of officials from the Additional Director, Mines and Geology, Ballari inspected the sand mining site from May 16 to 18. The investigation revealed patterns of large-scale illegal extraction of sand.

The KRIDL bagged tenders to undertake sand mining and storage for government construction projects for a period of five years from April 2021. The investigation report stated that the sand mining was extended to areas beyond legally marked boundaries of 40 acres of land. They also found three lots of sand weighing around 98,030 metric tonnes stocked at the site. They extracted sand from riverbeds by digging 40 feet deep over a 3-kilometre stretch.

Show-cause notices mere eyewash

Prior to the visit of the investigation team, the Kalaburagi Deputy Commissioner had issued a series of show-cause notices to Deputy Director for Mines and Geology Somashekar and Chittapur Tahsildar Nagalingayya Hiremath seeking an explanation within 24 hours. Nearly five notices were issued to Mr. Somashekar between April and June while two notices went to Mr. Hiremath in April. 

Mr. Siddalinga Swami said that merely issuing notices is not enough, and that they should translate into action and punitive orders against officials.

“What prevented the Deputy Commissioner from taking any action against officials till now?”

He claimed that close relatives of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge were involved in the illegal sand mining in Chittapur taluk, He accused the district administration and the Sand Monitoring Committee of trying to ‘cover up’ the illegal sand mining case.