BALASORE: Two Revenue Inspectors and three police personnel were injured in an attack allegedly by sand mafia in Gadasahibaliapal under Jaleswar police station in Balasore district while conducting raids on illegal sand mining in Subarnarekha river on Friday. The officials were taken to Baliapal hospital and discharged after first-aid.
Sources said, on a tip off about rampant illegal sand mining on the river bed, three Revenue Inspectors from different circles under Jaleswar tehsil along with three police personnel went to the spot and found the local people and labourers engaged in loading sand as sand mafias stood guard. When the officials asked to stop as lease was not granted to any person at the river bed, the mafia started attacking them.
From May 23 even when the district administration imposed CrPC 144 on the river beds of Subarnarekha to check sand theft, the mafias continued to lift sand allegedly with the support of local people.Soon after the attack, a platoon of police force along with SDPO and IIC of Jaleswar police station rushed to the spot and shifted the injured to hospital. Police have been deployed in the village to check further violence.
Sources said more than 100 trucks have regularly been lifting sand for the last some days causing revenue loss to the government.Jaleswar Additional Tehsildar Hemanta Kumar Naik said an enforcement team of police and two RIs were attacked by a mob when they tried stopping the sand mafia. Later, another RI and a platoon of police force rushed to the spot.
Tehsildar Smruti Ranjan Mallick filed a complaint in Jaleswar police station after the incident basing which one person has been detained though no case has been registered so far.Neither SDPO Ankita Kumbhar nor IIC Rosalin Behera received calls to respond despite frequent attempts.