Kerala - Alappuzha   

Raids detect illegal sand-mining

ALAPPUZHA: A man was arrested and 46 vehicles and 14 boats were seized in raids on sand-mining spots in the district on Saturday. Sixty cases of illegal sand-mining were detected, District Collector V.K. Balakrishnan said.

At a press conference, he said 27 vehicles and 14 boats were released after imposing penalties. An amount of Rs. 2.25 lakh was collected as penalty in the 60 cases detected till 4 p.m. The raids began at 5 a.m. under the supervision of tahsildars of each taluk.

He said the highest number of cases was detected in Mavelikara taluk, where five raids led to the detection of 22 cases and seizure of 22 vehicles. The highest total fine of Rs. 1 lakh was collected from the taluk, the Collector said.

Ambalapuzha with 12 cases, Cherthala and Kuttanad with nine cases each and Karthikapally with eight cases followed, while three raids in Chengannur failed to produce results.

One lorry driver was arrested when he escaped from the raiding party and drove away his vehicle. He was chased and nabbed by the police, Mr. Balakrishnan said.

Staff Reporter writes from Kollam:

Thirty-one lorries were seized by Revenue authorities in Kollam on Saturday under charges of illegal transportation of sand and rock. The seizures were made during raids by a special revenue squad, led by District Collector A. Shajehan, simultaneously on various locations in the five taluks of the district.

Mr. Shajehan said the raids were part of strong measures being initiated against unauthorised mining of sand and rock. The government had issued directives with regard to it. In the five taluks, the revenue teams were led by the respective tahsildars.

Out of the seized trucks, 16 were transporting sand and 15, rock.

In Kollam taluk, five areas were raided, in Karunagapally three, in Kottarakara and Kunnathur two each and in Pathanapuram one. The Collector said the raids against unauthorised sand and rock mining would continue.

Staff Reporter writes from Pathanamthitta: In a drive against sand-mining in the Manimala and Pampa, the revenue special squad led by Thiruvalla Sub-Collector Pranab Jyotinath seized huge quantity of sand, countryboats and trucks on Saturday.

The Sub-Collector told The Hindu that the raid was conducted on the directives of Revenue Principal Secretary Nivedita P. Haran. District Collector Raju Narayanaswamy held discussions with the Revenue officials tipped for the raid before they swooped on the sand ‘mafia’.

Two trucks and six country boats were seized from different Kadavus, besides around 40 lorry loads of illegally quarried river during the raid.

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