Empty checkposts do little to stop illegal sand smuggling

KOPPAL: Illegal sand mining and transportation is rampant in Gangavati and Karatagi taluks of Koppal district, as several checkposts set up to curb the same dont’ have personnel over the past few months.

In view of public complaints about illegal sand mining on the banks of Tungabhadra River in the two taluks and transportation of the same, the district administration had set up checkposts at several places including Mallapura, Sangapura, Mustoor, Venkatagiri and Chikkajantakal villages. Teams of officials comprising personnel from the revenue, police, forest, mines & geology departments besides respective gram panchayats were constituted to monitor these checkposts round-the-clock.

However, with no one guarding nature’s bounty at these checkposts, there has been an escalation of the practice of mining and transporting sand. As public outcry over illegal sand mining, especially on the banks of Tungabhadra in Nandihalli and Mustoor villages and transportation of the same reached a crescendo last week, the mines department officials and police rushed to the two villages on Friday to inspect and dig up huge holes using earthmoving equipment along the banks of Tungabhadra to prevent mining. As a matter of fact, permission has not been granted to anyone to mine sand in the two villages, said an official.

A case was registered against a few illegal sand miners and a couple of tractors were seized during inspection, a police official said. Karatgi tahsildar Shivasharanappa Kattolli also claimed that raids were being conducted and cases have been registered against offenders.