Kerala - Kozhikode   

Permit to be issued to sell sand from other States

Going hi-tech:Industries Minister Elamaram Karim inaugurating the online distribution of sand passes in the city on Sunday.

Kozhikode: Industries Minister Elamaram Karim has said the State government will take immediate measures to check the prices of sand in the State.

Speaking after inaugurating the Nirman online sand distribution system on the taluk office premises here on Sunday, the Minister said anyone who was ready to pay taxes could bring sand from other States and sell it in Kerala and that permits for the same would be given to all those who applied for it, as soon as possible. The government would also encourage the production of M-sand (manufactured sand).

The availability of sand from Malampuzha and Chulliyar dams had brought the sand prices down to a great extend in Palakkad district and central Kerala, he said.

Mr. Karim said Nirman was a creative and scientific system through which every one could get sand in a reasonable manner. It could put an end to black marketing of sand, but could not rectify the scarcity of sand now experienced in the State. It was hoped that mining sand from dams and importing from other States could solve the problem to a great extend, he added.

Earlier, Mayor M. Bhaskaran said that only with the introduction of a pre-paid lorry system and some mechanism in place at the waterfronts to measure sand could the Nirman system be foolproof. He also demanded more Nirman online centres in the Kozhikode city limits as the city had the size of three Assembly constituencies.

Mr. Karim said the pre-paid lorry system would be introduced within a few months. However, it would be impractical to introduce weighbridges at all waterfronts. Instead, there should be a system to measure sand in square feet, he added.

Later, the Minister inaugurated a group insurance scheme for sand-mining labourers.

Devaswom Minister Kadannappally Ramachandran inaugurated a Nirman pass distribution centre at the taluk office and the distribution of photo identity cards to sand-mining labourers.

District Collector P.B. Saleem, officials of the National Informatics Centre and representatives of various panchayats were present on the occasion.

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