Udala: Rampant illegal sand mining in river Sona in Udala block of Mayurbhanj district has led to panic among the people living in riparian Bairatpur village.
They said excavators are being used to mine sand from the riverbed, while trucks and tractors are transporting sand consignments every day.
The villagers have drawn the attention of Collector Vineet Bhardwaj to this. The continuous sand mining has eroded the banks of Sona, posing a threat to the very existence of the village.
The villagers in their complaint pointed out that a person had leased out Bairatpur ghat and sand mining is continuing from there over the years.
Another problem is that the leaseholder is carrying out sand mining beyond the lease area, but the administration has not been able to prevent it despite repeated complaints. The government also suffers huge loss of revenue due to the illegal mining.
“We had informed the sub-collector, the tehsildar and the police about this, but nothing was done to stop the illegal activity,” the villagers alleged.
Villagers Srikant Behera, Sumant Behera, Swarup Mohapatra, Chandan Behera, Hemant Behera and Manas Behera told the Collector that their demand for halting the illegal sand mining has been ignored.
Taking the public complaint into consideration, the Collector has asked the sub-collector and the tehsildar to look into the matter.
PNN
