Bantwal: Earnest action to provide drinking water to the city of Mangaluru  by the district administration opened up an avenue to churn out some quick moolah for the sand mafia.
When the desperate district administration said that it would dredge the Thumbe dam to lift the silt that has deposited on the bed, the sand mafia ended up lifting sand instead.

The Deputy commissioner of Mangaluru during the meeting held on May 6 had ordered dredging at Thumbe vented dam inflow zone to increase storage of water to tide over the severe  water crisis gripping  Mangaluru city. As the water levels had dropped down  to  4.6 feet against a total capacity of 13 feet, people of Mangaluru were delighted by the move  to clear around 3 feet silt which would bring some immediate relief to the water starved city.

To oversee the ongoing operation the DC along with the team of officials visited thumbe dam area this afternoon. During their visit ‘real surprise’ was in store for them! The sand mafia was actively involved in collecting large quantity of sand from the river bed which is drying up quickly.

Shocked and angered by these developments DC summoned the Assistant engineer in charge of operations and questioned him about the ongoing operations. The entire scene looked like daylight robbery! He found three JCB machines, five tipper Lorries and two other sand laden trucks .Immediately he instructed the officials to stop dredging operations and clear all the machines from the area and block the movement of sand from the area. He also cautioned all people concerned of severe action in case of future violation.

However reacting to the developments Zilla panchayath member Chandraprakash Shetty said that as the water had turned too muddy during dredging operations, the labour force were involved in the accumulation of sand during free time.

Isn’t it true that – ‘The world has enough for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed?