Karnataka JD(S) MLA Karemma Nayak faces threats from sand mafia; home minister assures protection

Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said on Tuesday that illegal sand mining had become a menace in the state and that leaders of all parties were involved in it. He was responding to JD(S) MLA Karemma Nayak’s statement that she had received threats from illegal sand miners in her Devadurga constituency.

“It is a big business where influential people are involved. I have given only a restricted answer (about it),” the minister told the Assembly, noting the challenges involved in preventing illegal sand mining.

Nayak said that those involved in sand mining had sent people to her house, threatened her, and created a ruckus. “I had tried to put an end to illegal sand mining in an honest manner, as it was affecting crops grown by farmers along the banks of the Krishna river. The unregulated movement of sand-laden vehicles has also left the roads along the banks in a poor shape,” she said.