The officials, who were reluctant to act in the initial stages, later agreed to seize the sand deposited in the Karwar port, without valid passes and permission.

The vedike activists, who met the Deputy Commissioner on Friday morning, apprised him of the widespread looting of the natural resources by some local politicians and their supporters. They urged the Deputy Commissioner to stop the export of sand because it was procured by the illegal mining.

When the Deputy Commissioner instructed the Deputy Director (DD) of Mines and Geology Karwar to look into the matter, the officer told the Deputy Commissioner that everything was in order. But unrelenting vedike activists again visited the Mines and Geology Department office with their legal adviser Kishor Desai and urged the officials of the department to show the documents how the suppliers and the exporters procured the river sand when the High Court had banned sand mining in rivers.

The official agreed to show the documents in which the supplier and exporter had availed the permission for “local supply”. At this point there was heated argument between the officials and the Vedike activists.

Vedike activists urged the officials to seize the sand stored in the Karwar port for the export purpose illegally by some powerful politicians.

Earlier, vedike district unit president N. Datta told presspersons that there was about 15,000 tonnes of sand inside the port plot defying all the guidelines issued by the Government, he said. A ship was waiting to load the sand.