Sand shortage issue to be sorted by Jan 12

MLC Ivan D’Souza has said that Mines and Geology Minister RajashekharPatil has assured of sorting out the sand shortage issue before January 12. He was addressing reporters at the District Congress Committee office in the city on Sunday. D’Souza said that it was decided to allocate the non-allocated sand bars in the non-CRZ areas to gram panchayats and government agencies like Nirmiti Kendra and the PWD so that sand could be extracted and utilised for housing schemes. The decision was taken in the presence of the district in-charge ministers of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada and Pratapchandra Shetty, chairman of the Legislative Council. The MLC added that RajashekharPatil has promised to visit Dakshina Kannada in the near future.