Bengaluru: Minister for Large and Medium Scale Industries R.V. Deshpande on Thursday announced in the Legislative Assembly that he would inquire into the allegations of irregularities in import of Malaysian sand and pricing.

Responding to the allegations levelled by Leader of the Opposition Jagadish Shettar, during a debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address, Deshpande said such an irregularity could not have taken place.

He would, however, look into the allegations and place all the documents before the House for a public scrutiny, the Minister said. He asked Shettar to furnish all the documents to support his allegations.

Earlier, Shettar alleged that the firm that had bagged contract for importing sand from Malaysia to fight sand shortage in the State had been set up only after tenders were floated for supplying sand. Though the actual cost of a 50-kg bag of sand was only Rs. 107.90, Mysore Sales International Ltd. (MSIL), which is selling the sand, had fixed the price at Rs. 200 a bag, he alleged. Calling it a scam, he asked why people had to pay Rs. 40,000 for a truckload (one tonne).

Who monitored the official process related to inviting tenders for importing sand from Malaysia? This remained a mystery as the two Ministers concerned — Minister for Mines Vinay Kulkarni and Deshpande — shifted the responsibility on each other