Team Herald
PONDA: Stating that it has become difficult for them to earn their livelihood due to the prevailing ban, sand extractors on Saturday demanded that the government immediately restart sand extraction activities failing which they threatened to stop vehicles from Kudal and other parts of Maharashtra involved in illegal transportation.
At a meeting held at Marcel, the extractors claimed these vehicles have no permissions to transport sand from Maharashtra government and demanded action against them by RTOs in Goa.
They demanded that all the vehicles seized by Goa Police be released and blamed the NGOs for working against them.
The NGOs should sit with local sand extractors and find a solution to restart sand mining in Goa, they said.
The sand extractors claimed that several truck owners and labourers besides hotel owners are dependent on sand extraction activities.
“If sand is banned how can government announce development works in Goa? Without sand the government projects are not possible,” they said and demanded that the government announce the date as to when it would issue licences to extract sand.
