Karwar: Association of Consulting Civil Engineers Secretary Pradeep Govekar warned that they would hold a one-
day hunger strike on November 19 in case the problem related to availability of sand in Uttara Kannada district was not solved before November 18.

Speaking at a press conference in Karwar on Friday, Govekar said that M-Sand can be an alternative to the natural sand found in rivers. But people could be cheated by mixing the M-sand with cheaper materials. This would cause difficulty to poor and middle class people who do not have knowledge of technical aspects of sand.

“The district administration collects natural sand to facilitate construction of government buildings. But private construction works need more sand than government works. The common people do not have the capacity to test the quality of M-sand. Hence, natural sand must 
be stocked for private construction work also. The district administration must ensure that the sand mined in the district must be used to take up civil works in the district only”, he said.

Association leader Krishnanand Bandekar said that there was no availability of sand needed for construction in Karwar and this had resulted in halting of many works. This had also affected the lives of hundreds of construction workers.

He said that development of infrastructure was necessary for development of the city and so, the district administration should take steps to ensure that sand was available for all construction work in the district.