KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, Aug 28: While sand-mafias are managing to escape with a dumper-load of sand from the river ghats in Kharkai and Subernarekha taking advantage of darkness, the police have on Monday succeeded in stopping the sand-lifting in Adityapur though at a very small level.
A police party that was on the lookout for sand lifters in the Kharkai river ghats along the Adityapur thana area spotted two men carrying sacks of sand on a moped and a cycle and chased them with alacrity.
At the sight of the approach police, the two who were apparently tribals, abandoned the sand-laden cycle and moped and ran to safety. The police party then seized both the ‘vehicles’ and brought them to the police station.
An hour later, both the sandmen turned up at the Adityapur thana and pleaded to get their seized moped and cycle, but by then the police had already registered separate cases against the duo for indulging in sand-lifting from the river ghats.
OC, Adityapur thana, Rajan Kumar Singh said two persons have been booked for lifting sands from the river ghat when there is a restriction in place by the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
“We identified one of the accused, the owner of the moped by getting the vehicle’s registration number from the District Transport Office, Seraikela. The other accused who owned the cycle had turned up at the police station on his own. Both the persons have been booked under the non-bailable section, ” said Singh while talking to lagatar24.com.
On being queried, the OC admitted that both the accused, especially the one having a rickety cycle are extremely poor, but the police are helpless as it was the Superintendent of Police, Seraikela-Kharsawan district who has instructed to crack down on the sand-lifters irrespective of the volume of the sand they are caught up with.
The officer-in-charge, when questioned, claimed that they are equally vigilant against those who tend to carry sand by trucks, tractors or dumpers.
Sand-lifting is banned from June 15 to Oct 15 as per a directive of the NGT causing a crisis of the sand. As construction work gets affected due to the crisis, the builders tend to buy it at a premium giving the sand mafia to do a booming business.
A large number of bustee dwellers have also chipped in the clandestine business by carrying sand on cycles to a convenient corner for the sand mafias to be later carried away in trucks or dumpers.
