Transporting sand? Fix your lorry with GPS

TNN

MANGALORE, 27 July 2010: Permission to transport sand in Dakshina Kannada district will be given only to those lorries fitted with global positioning system (GPS). Owners of such lorries have time till August 10 to get their lorries fitted with GPS, DC V Ponnuraj said here on Monday. A squad under the district task force on sand transportation headed by the Mangalore assistant commissioner will keep a check on this business.

 

Chairing a meeting of the task force headed by him, the DC took into consideration various suggestions given by Joint Action Committee of Sand Contractors, Sand Boat Owner-Workers and Building Materials Transporters. Acceding to a request from the committee, the DC said the administration would issue guidelines to govern the whole gamut of business of sand right from its extraction from the riverbed to their storing and transportation soon.

 

 

Admitting that the district administration has no legal provisions to insist on those involved in sand transportation business to fix GPS, the DC said the task force on sand set up as per a government order has been authorized to explore all possibilities to curb illegalities in this business.

 

The state government, too, is exploring the possibilities of making GPS compulsory for lorries involved in sand transportation business and the step taken by the administration could be a precursor to this statewide move, he noted. There will be no bar on goods transport lorries, not fitted with GPS, to carry any other commodity except sand, he said, adding that action would be taken against such lorries as per existing provisions of law.

 

 

Rebutting a point made by South Kanara Transport Operator’s Association in a press meet earlier in the day, Ponnuraj said GPS would enable authorities to accurately ascertain the two points where a lorry has traversed. It will also be possible to ascertain the nature of goods loaded on to a lorry for certain commodities such as sand is available only in a particular place, and nothing else can be loaded on to a lorry from such places.

 

The DC clarified that the person permitted to mine sand has to pay royalty to the department of mines and geology. A permit holder would be held liable if transporters deviate from the trip sheet. Likewise, permit holders selling sand to transporters not authorized to transport sand would see their permits cancelled, he said, adding that such sand seized would not be auctioned henceforth, but used for government purposes as a deterrent.

 

Use of GPS would also help curb the practice of dumping sand in areas bordering the state and Kerala. The administration will hold workshops for those involved in the business to sensitize them on various legal provisions.