8 mafias held for illegally lifting sand from river bed

In a major breakthrough, eight sand mafias from Barjora, Bankura, were arrested in the wee hours on Sunday over charges of illegally lifting sand from Damodar River bed.

It may be mentioned that some locals had been agitating in the area for the past few days against illegal lifting of sand. The police took up the matter after complaints were lodged by those protesting against the same and the accused was arrested. This comes at a time when the police and district administration had been carrying out continuous raids and taking necessary steps to check illegal lifting of sand. Moreover, the state government has introduced the e-auctioning of sand pits to stop this illegal practice.

During this raid, policemen from Barjora arrested Chandranath Sarkar, Dileswar Sarkar, Shyamal Mondal, Sunil Pal, Jagannath Ruidas, Tanmoy Samanta, Gopal Laha and Sujit Sinha. They have been booked under different sections of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act. Boats, electric pumps and sand-laden trucks have been seized. A police officer said the arrest has come as a major breakthrough, the reason being the police are now considering to find out others who are also involved in the racket. The police have started to interrogate them to get the names of their associates. The police had conducted raids several times earlier but the accused have fled the spot leaving behind trucks, boats and other equipment. This time, a large contingent of police was engaged and they gheraoed the area from all sides and nabbed them.

Implementation of e-auctioning of sand blocks in all the six South Bengal districts include Hooghly, Birbhum, Bankura, Burdwan, West Midnapore and Purulia besides carrying out regular raids to check illegal excavation of sand from the river bed that has changed the scenario. Many sand blocks have already been e-auctioned. Thus, illegal excavation of sand is leading to loss of those who won the bid for the blocks through e-auctioning.