After TOI alert, water dept official to act against illegal sand mining in Vena Lake

Nagpur: Illegal sand mining is underway on the bed of Vena dam, off Amravati Road, some 25km from the city. Water resources department (WRD) had given permission to some local farmers to excavate silt from the dried up reservoir. However, some villagers are taking away sand as well.
While silt is used in farms to improve their productivity, sand is much sought after commodity in the construction sector and fetches a good price.
WRD officials were unaware of this fact. TOI photographer had taken snaps of the illegal operation on Thursday morning. These were sent to deputy executive engineer Samir Shukla on WhatsApp. Shukla forwarded them to section engineer Rajiv Wasu and asked him to inspect the site.
Wasu told TOI that his subordinate, who was in-charge of the dam, had gone to the spot but did not find anyone. “He will go there on Friday morning. If villagers are found excavating sand they will be warned. If they do not stop their illegal activities strict action will be taken against them,” he said.
When TOI photographer went there to click some pictures of the water body and its present situation, he witnessed around 30 labourers who were extracting sand from the dried up reservoir. They had removed the top layer of silt and were excavating sand below it. When TOI asked them whether it was legal to extract the sand, one of the supervisors from Dhamna village said that they had received permission from the gram panchayat.
The sand extracted from the dried up reservoir was being put in the four tractor trolleys by the labourers. An irrigation department staffer visited the spot in presence of TOI but he claimed to be not aware of the illegal activity.
Shukla told TOI that his department had empowered the tehsildar to allow villagers to take away the silt. “The interested villagers had applied to us through the tehsildar,” he said.
Illegal sand mining is rampant in the district. Some influential politicians back the sand mafia as a result of which police and revenue officials turn a blind eye towards the illegal mining. Recently, revenue officials had charged Nandanvan police of shielding sand smugglers. They had tried to run over the officials but cops did not book the culprits under stringent sections.