PERNEM: Despite the High Court ordering Goa government and the police authorities to curb illegal river sand mining activities, the menace resurfaced in Tiracol river during the Ganesh Chaturthi week, the villagers of Ugvem, Porascadem Satose and Satarda, said on Tuesday.
This is a pattern. When the monsoon leaves, the sand mafia enters.
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In the recent letter sent to the authorities, including the Superintendent of Police, Collector (North Goa) and Directorate of Mines and Geology, the Ugvem Gram Sangharsh Samiti has given a list with names of people and locations where the extracted sand is stored and supplied.
But the PI of Pernem lives in blissful denial. PI Sachin Lokre said, “We haven’t received any complaints in recent times. However, police patrolling is on to keep a check on the same.”
The reality is that rampant sand mining has happened under the nose of the police
The illegalities were apparently most rampant in the areas bordering Goa and Maharashtra, the villager alleged.
“The concerned departments are very well aware of the ongoing sand mining activities but are turning a blind eye towards it. If one visits the riverbank stretch from Satarda-Naibagh bridge to Porascadem, one can find heaps of collected sand, but the common man cannot question them. The authorities need to act,” said Uday Mahale, a local resident and one of the agitators.
“About 20-25 canoes with minimum 10 to 12 labourers on each of them are engaged in sand extraction during the night, under the cover of darkness between 11 pm to 6 am. The main spots are Porascadem near the bridge, behind the service station, Gaonkar and Catholic Vaddo at Porascadem, Cansulem, Amerem and on the road to Nigal. We request for regular patrolling by Pernem and Coastal Police,” Mahale said.
“If one visits the Chapora river bank from Porascadem to Ugvem stretch, one can find earth movers removing the sand and even filling trucks with sand. Our main concern is mainly to protect the land and the environment, which is being damaged due to contact extraction of sand, thus increasing the depth and width of the river,” the villagers said.
All this while, only the villagers of Ugvem were raising their voices. But now, the villagers of Satose, which is part of Maharashtra, located at the banks of river Tiracol, have been voicing on the matter and in this regard they have even written letters to the authorities concerned.
Villagers from Ugvem alleged that even after writing several letters to the authorities to take action, the officials have failed to curb the illegalities.
Locals alleged that the sand extracting business is one kind of sand mafia where the people involved in these activities control the government machinery and cover up the extracted sand.
“In spite of strict orders from the State government as well as the High Court and standing orders from the DGP, illegal sand extraction continues to be rampant in Terekhol river from Porascadem and Ugavem village,” Vinayak Mahale ex sarpanch of Ugvem, said.
