VELLORE: The authorities of Revenue department, in a crackdown that lasted for about 36 hours, seized sand worth Rs. 31 lakh stacked for smuggling to Chennai city from five places at Wallajah and Kaveripakkam in Vellore district.
“As many as 155 units of sand stacked to be smuggled to Chennai were seized from Kaveripakkam and adjoining villages in Wallajah taluk during the operation lasting for 36 hours,” A Shanmuga Sundaram, Vellore District Collector, said on Monday.
The combined value of the sand, seized by the Revenue Department teams comprising of Revenue Inspectors KG Divya (Kaveripakkam firka) and Sonia (Wallajah), is Rs. 31 lakh.
The seizure of a lorry laden with sand by a team led by Divya, acting on a tip-off received by Ranipet Sub-Collector K Elambahavath, on the wee hours of Saturday led to unearthing of illegal stacking and smuggling of the high-demand construction material.
“We were on a hot chase after sighting five lorries smuggling sand. We could catch one truck on the Tiruparkadal-Ramapuram while others sped away early on Saturday,” Divya told Express.
The truck bearing a registration number-TN 92 A 2346- was taken to the Kaveripakkam police station and handed over to the police. A complaint was lodged with the police to trace the operators who fled after leaving the vehicle, she said.
The next day, on Sunday, Sonia joined the team to zero-in-on the illegal stocking points.
“During the follow up searches, our officials found sand illegally piled up at two points in Kaveripakkam and three places in Wallajah,” S Satheesh, Nemili Tahsildar, said.
The entire cache of sand weighing 155 units was handed over to the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board for construction works.
The Collector claimed that it was the single largest cache of smuggled sand in the district. He appreciated the courageous act of the Revenue Inspectors in chasing the sand smugglers and seizing the construction material.
Further inquiries were on to nab the trucks fleeing after seeing the Revenue department team.
Meanwhile, sources said the sand was illegally quarried from Palar river at Tiruparkadal where from moved to clandestine stocking points before being transported to Chennai city.
In the local black market, one unit of sand costs about Rs. 10,000. The rate is determined on the basis of daily demand.
When it is smuggled into Chennai city, a unit is sold for about Rs. 22,000 based on the locality and demand, the sources noted.
While the government officials are boasting of catching a huge haul of sand from illegal stocking points, activists urge them to lay their hands on the originating point so that illegal sand mining can completely be checked to save the heavily damaged Palar River.
“It is good that huge quantity of river sand has been seized by the officers. But what they should do is to visit the Palar River bed and stop illegal sand mining. In several places along Palar, sand is being illegally extracted before moving to stocking points,” said AC Venkatesan, president of Palar Protection Committee.
He rued that the officials of the Mines department are lethargic in checking plundering of natural resources.