Team Herald
PERNEM: In a joint raid on Thursday morning, Captain of Ports, Mines Department and Revenue Department, seized five illegal boats in River Tiracol, Pernem that were involved in illegal sand extraction.
This is the second raid in two weeks, the previous one was conducted at Ugave, Torxem, Tambose and 14 boats had been seized.
Deputy Collector Harish Hadkonkar along with Dy Captain of Ports P Sirsaikar and Ramnath Shetgaonkar of Mines Department along with Pernem Police and Coastal Police conducted the raid from Vazre to Kiranpani on Thursday.
While officials refused to give details, sources said they found sand stacks at Vazre which have been sealed. Three boats were seized at Balkhazan and two boats at Kiranpani while sand extraction was on, along with a truck having around 1 meter of sand, officials said. The canoes are in custody of Mines Department.
Hadkonkar said, “The officials will continue raids in the coastal areas until illegal sand miners stop sand mining totally.”
He requested the people to stop sand mining and said, “Excessive sand mining creates a bad effect on the environment. The government has strictly banned sand extraction so taking this into consideration people should stop extracting sand till the government approves it.”
