All sand mining permits in the Mannar District have been temporarily suspended after fresh concerns surfaced over how permits are being issued, with a new legal framework now being drafted to govern future allocations.
The decision was taken at a special meeting at the Mannar District Secretariat on Sunday between officials and sand business owners covering the prevention of illegal sand rackets, the issuance of permits and the regulation of sand prices.
Chairman of the District Development Committee and Deputy Minister of Co-operative Development Upali Samarasinghe said future sand mining permits would be issued only under a new legal framework currently being drafted. The Minister and the Director of the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) had agreed that a fresh set of rules would be prepared and finalised under the supervision of the District Secretary, he said.
Sand business owners used the meeting to present their own concerns and proposals. They requested that, in order to control sand prices, three cubes of sand be provided at Rs. 50,000 for the construction of houses for poor families, three cubes at Rs. 65,000 for government construction projects, and that a fee increase of Rs. 350 per kilometre be allowed for other Divisional Secretariat divisions.
Samarasinghe expressed confidence that the revised process would bring “formality” to the issuance of sand mining permits in the district.
Mannar’s permits were already suspended once in April after a CID probe into large-scale irregularities, with officials describing a “planned sand mafia” extracting volumes far beyond approved limits and operating in unauthorised areas using heavy machinery. The April suspension covered all March 2026 permits; Sunday’s decision now restarts the freeze while the new legal framework is finalised.
Source: Ada Derana.
