Ujjain: Mining racket busted at Gambhir river

Ujjain: After busting a large scale sand mining racket on Tuesday night, all mining equipments and steamers were seized on Wednesday by the police. According to Jiwajiganj CSP,Malkeet Singh, no arrests have been made in this case as the names of the people behind it are still not clear.

Under Singh’s leadership, police teams from Mahakal and Bhairavgarh police station had busted a sand mining racket in theGambhir riveron Tuesday night. This racket was operating inNalwa and SemdiyaNasar villages where modern equipments were used to excavate large amounts of sand.

Bhairavgarhpolice authorities seized three steamers and more than 30 tonnes of sand, while Mahakalpolice authorities seized three steamers and 20 dumpers filled with sand. Jiwajiganj TI BrajeshShrivastavawas presentwhen the equipments were being seized. He informed Free Press that illegal mining in the areawas on for the past two

“Such mining rackets are usually common on the banks of the river Narmada. This is the first time that a large scale racket has been busted in western Madhya Pradesh. A case of theft has been registered under section 379 of IPC”, he added. Shrivastava further informed that a large number of illegal mining rackets were operating in Mahidpur, Mahakal and Ingoriya regions onthe rivers,Gambhir and Kshipra.

In this case, excavation equipment were installed on a steamer in the centre of the river. The steamer was connected to the river bank through huge pipes and the machines sucked the sand and water. The filtered sand got collected on the river bank while water was returned back to the river. The sand was then loaded in trucks and transported illegally. When police reached the spot, all miners fled the area. As it was dark, all equipments couldn’t be seized. This operation continued on Wednesday.