Team Herald
PONDA: Stating that during the Portuguese era sand extraction was not stopped, traditional sand extractors from Ponda taluka during a protest at Volvoi on Monday accused the government and NGOs of harassing them for past three years.
The sand extractors demanded that government instead of conducting raids should legalise sand extraction and issue licences to them after paying taxes.
They claimed that they have been hit hard as the officials had seized the sand extracted by the sand extractors during the raid long ago following complaints by NGOs and dumped the same into the river.
“Instead of banning sand extraction, the government should issue licences to us by charging taxes and we are ready to start our sand extraction activities after paying taxes,” they said.
“We even filed petition in High Court which has directed government to issue permits following legal procedures. At least the government should now start issuing permits so that we can start our business in October,” they urged.
MGP president Deepak Dhavalikar accused the government of meting out injustice to sand extractors whose families are starving due to no source of income.
“If the government cannot find a solution then it should provide Rs 20,000 per month as financial relief to sand extractors as during the pandemic they have no other source of income,” he added
