Mangaluru, Udupi: Sand mining expected to restart in first week of Aug

Mangaluru, Udupi: Preparations are reportedly underway to restart sand mining operations during the first week of August. All operations in the CRZ and non-CRZ zones in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts were banned from June 1 to July 31.

The mining will resume only after the Deputy Commissioner holds a meeting of the District Sand Monitoring Committee and issues a notification.

Once resumed, sand mining operations can continue till September as the sanction period for mining in CRZ zone was extended till then. Later, bathymetric surveys will be conducted and after environmental clearances, will be permitted again.

Present phase of sand mining operations started in November 2020. Permission was granted to 105 mining contractors to conduct mining operations in 13 blocks in the CRZ zones.

In the non-CRZ zone 16 blocks were sanctioned.