Patna: A joint team of the district administration and the mining department carried out a special drive against illegal sand mining in Rohtas district, around 165km southwest of Patna, on Tuesday.
Acting on a tip off, a team of officials led by Dehri sub-divisional officer Pankaj Patel conducted a raid at Suara village under the jurisdiction of Dehri town police station and seized a huge quantity of sand stocked there for transportation to Varanasi in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.
The sand was illegally collected from Sone river and stocked at the village in gross violation of the prescribed rules. Patel said the seized sand would be auctioned after completing legal formalities. "FIRs are being lodged against the owners of the land on the charge of abatement of crime," he told The Telegraph.
Dehri circle officer Seema Rani was told by sub-divisional officer to ascertain the identity of land owners and help the police in the investigation. Dehri town police station house officer (SHO) Dharmendra Kumar said the seized sand had been stocked under the surveillance of police personnel stationed at Narayan Medical College.
Sources in the mining department said stringent measures had been initiated to check illegal sand mining on the Sone river. However, the sand mafia is active in the region and mostly conducts operations at night to dodge officials. Over 50 vehicles carrying sand were seized from national highway-2 during the special drive in February.
In January a special operation was launched in four districts - Rohtas, Kaimur, Aurangabad and Gaya - on the directive of inspector-general of Patna zone Nayyar Hasnain Khan. Over 300 overloaded trucks were impounded and 208 persons detained during the drive. He said such raids will continue. "Any lapses on the part of officials will not be tolerated, as it was related to revenue collection," he said.