Udupi: The eight-day long agitation called by the Maralu Horata Samiti against the sand extraction issue in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office here, was withdrawn on Thursday, November 1.
Following talks between the protesters and the Secretary of the Department of Commerce and Industries (Mines and MSME), Rajendra Kataria, the protests have been called off. As of now, the agitation has been postponed to November 20 and the samiti has said that would decide further course of action depending upon the kinds of rule changes that come from Union and state governments.
According to the Maralu Horata Samiti, a four-hour long meeting was held at the venue of the protests on Thursday. The authorities have promised to meet the Samiti’s demands relating to sand extraction in non-CRZ areas.
On October 25, the state government had written to the Union government regarding the sand extraction issue and has sought clarifications on certain aspects. The state government is awaiting the Union Government’s directions in the matter, and this may take some time.
Rajendra Kataria had agreed to accompany a delegation of MLAs and MPs from the coastal districts to Delhi to discuss the sand extraction issues in both the areas. Kataria requested the agitators to withdraw their protest till all the matters related to the issue were resolved as a continuation of the agitation might cause more problems.
Deputy Commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis, Additional Deputy Commissioner Vidyakumari, Raghupathy Bhat MLA, Sunil Kumar MLA, Kota Srinivas Poojary MLC, Bhoje Gowda MLC and other samiti officials were also present.
