Residents, organisations urge district administration to save Pavoor-Uliya Kudru from the onslaught of illegal sand extraction

Civic sociey organisation and residents of Pavoor-Uliya Kudru urge Dakshina Kannada administration to stop illegal sand extraction threatening the lives of 55 families in the area.

Catholic Sabha Mangaluru Pradesh, Dakshina Kannada Samana Manaska Sanghatanegala Janti Vedike and residents on Monday, June 24, urged the district administration to permanently prohibit illegal sand extraction in and around Pavoor-Uliya Kudru in Netravathi River, thereby saving the life of Kudru residents.

A delegation of the organisations and residents, including Roy Castelino, Muneer Katipalla, Manjula Nayak, Sunil Kumar Bakjal, Santosh Bajal, B. Shekhar, Stanly Lobo and others submitted a memorandum in this regard to Deputy Commissioner M.P. Mullai Muhilan here. The delegation, which had arranged a spot visit to the Kudru on Monday morning, explained in detail how illegal sand extraction was affecting the Kudru and its residents.

It noted that despite there being no permit to extract sand, the sand mafia has been engaged in excavating sand thereby reducing the size of the Kudru to a substantial extent. The Kudru inhabited by about 55 families and comprising mangroves and other vulnerable flora, was on the verge of extinction following unabated sand extraction. The administration should bring to book people involved in the illegal sand extraction in and around the Kudru that falls under Konaje Police limits of Ullal taluk, it appealed.

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board had opined that the Kudru was a sensitive area under CRZ-1 and no sand extraction could be permitted. The then Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim had on November 28, 2014, issued an order banning sand extraction in one km periphery of the Kudru following a series of complaints about illegal sand extraction, the delegation noted.

Though the illegal activities had come to a halt for some time, they resumed thereafter with the mafia destroying the outer periphery of the Kudru that comprised mangroves and other flora. The mafia is directly plundering the Kudru borders foot-by-foot thereby reducing its size. Whenever residents complain to the police, the mafia gets information about the complainants and threatens them.

Earlier in the day, Uliya Kudru Infant Jesus Shrine pastor Fr. Manohar D’Souza told the visiting delegation that over 50 families living in the Kudru for three generations were under the threat of losing their habitation because of the unchecked sand extraction.

Local resident Gilbert D’Souza said the Kudru spread over about 100 acres was now reduced to half despite Mr. Ibrahim banning sand extraction at Valachhil, Pavoor, Gadigadde and Adyar. Hundreds of migrant sand extraction workers backed by the mafia were threatening the local residents, he said.