Mangaluru: While many have been demanding former DC Sasikanth Senthil to re-think over his decision to bid adieu to civil service, stating that the country needs honest officers like him, Joint Action Committee of Sand Contractors, Sand Boat Owner-Workers and Building Materials Transporters and Federation of Dakshina Kannada district Lorry Owners Association alleged that Senthil was a corrupt officer and hence proper probe must be conducted to find out reasons behind his resignation and also to ascertian abuse of power by him.
Addressing reporters here on Sunday, September 8, joint action committee president N Jairaj Shetty furnished some documents to media and alleged that Senthil has misused his power in many ways. “Sand Bazar’ mobile app was introduced only to favour few people. Though it was introduced in order to check illegal sand mining and illegal sand transportation, it was misused by Senthil. Instead of providing sand to the public through the lorries which are registered under ‘Sand Bazar’ app, sand was disposed to only limited people. A huge quantity of sand was provided to some mighty people in an illegal way”, he alleged.
“A direction was given to install GPS to all sand transportation lorries claiming that it would help to track those lorries which are involved in illegal sand transportation or any kind of other illegal activities. Though a tender process was done in this regard, permission was given to a company named ‘T4U Service Pvt Ltd. What is shocking is that the same company was blacklisted in Udupi district. Instead of providing permission to an authentic company, permission was granted in an illegal way”, Shetty added.
Informing about allotting permits for sand mining in an illegal way, Shetty said, “sand extraction permits were given to many by violating the guidelines. There are several instances wherein three members of the same family have obtained permits for sand extraction. Few months ago, Senthil had taken measures to extract sand from Thumbe vented dam in the pretext of dredging. Later, that sand was illegally disposed”.
Shetty also alleged that the seized sand from various parts of the district have been disposed in an illegal way. “The major portion of that seized sand was given to one particular person who is politically very powerful. Hence, proper probe should be conducted in this regard to expose the corruption of Senthil,” he said.
Action committee honorary presidents Surendra Kambali, P Gopalakrishna Bhat, Halyar Iqbal, general secretaries Sunil Fernandes, Yusuf Ulaibettu, adviser B S Chandru among others were present.
