VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday took the mining department to task for failing to curb the indiscriminate mining in the Lanka villages in Kapileswarapuram of East Godavari district. The High Court asked the mining department to take steps to stop the mining immediately and ensure that no mining takes place in the said area in future.
Justice U Durgaprasad Rao gave these orders while dealing with a petition filed by Bandaru Dhanraj and two others against the illegal mining of sand in Lanka villages. The petitioners maintained that sand is being illegally mined.Mining department officials informed the court that temporary permissions were given to take up mining of sand.
Taking a serious view, Justice Durgaprasad Rao asked whether the officials were in a slumber when mining activity was taking place indiscriminately and pulled up officials for being lax. Finding fault with the officials for imposing simple penalties against those involved in illegal mining, Justice Rao said any punitive action should be like a snake bite, not like a mosquito bike.