Commissioner orders officials to deal heavy blow to sand mafia

Singrauli (Madhya Pradesh): A recent incident in which the sand mafia crushed a young man of the Indrapal Agria tribe under the wheels of a tractor seems to have woken up the administration. The administration has decided to take strict action against the illegal sand miners who rule the district.

The incident took place on Sunday night in Ganni village. Agria died in the early hours of Monday. Following the incident, Rewa divisional commissioner BS Jamod and Inspector General of Police Rewa zone Mahendra Singh Sikarwar visited the district headquarters on Wednesday.

The commissioner directed the officials to deal a heavy blow to the illegal miners. They held a meeting with the officials of the district administration at the collectorate auditorium to assess the law and order situation and to stop illegal mining, on Thursday.

Mining is banned until October 1 and police, mining and tax officials must work together to stop illegal mining, they said.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Praveen Singh Chouhan alleged that the contractors, in connivance with district administration officials, were carrying out illegal mining.

In a press release, Chouhan said that if a proper investigation was conducted, a big scam would be exposed. The Congress leader further said that the National Green Tribunal has imposed a ban on mining of Thathra mine.

However, the district administration issued an order allowing a contractor to undertake mining in Chhulhawa area under Thathra Panchayat. To avoid the NGT ban, Thathra’s name was not mentioned in the district administration’s order.

According to Chouhan, the sand contractors, in connivance with the officials, are illegally mining sand in Piparjhar and Devra. A huge amount of sand is being stored in an area where alligators are kept.