Large-scale sand smuggling has been reportedly taking place in Gundar riverbed and adjacent patta lands, especially in Udayanampatti panchayat near here in Virudhunagar district, in the last few days.
“Though a team of police visits our village, the smugglers manage to take away huge heaps of sand kept ready on the riverbed,” said a 70-year-old landlord, T Gurusamy.
A youth alleged that after scooping out sand for several feet deep on the riverbed, the smugglers were now targeting the farm lands along the Gundar river. They were using heavy machinery and trucks.
“This has been going on for the last one week. We have complained to the Village Administrative Officer,” he said.
However, the Udayanampatti VAO, Kesavan, said no written complaint had come from the patta holders about the sand smuggling. He said the heaps of sand found on riverbed were not within his jurisdiction.
Mr. Gurusamy said the farm land along the riverbed were rendered uncultivable for the last few years due to lack of adequate rain. “Now, there are only thorny bushes on the land. But, if the level of land goes down due to deep mining of sand, agriculture cannot be taken for ever,” he said.
Mr. Gurusamy, who now lives in Sivakasi, said that neither he nor other farm owners were able to stop the mining as the crime took place at night.
Udayanampatti panchayat president M. Jayamurugan said that smuggling was taking place at nights on many stretches of the Gundar river. “With respect to my village, I am told the landlords themselves have allowed sand mining for money,” he said.
A revenue officer said that despite patrolling done by their staff, the smugglers were good at quickly switching their places. “We are not able to stop the crime,” he said.
Even a zonal deputy tahsildar, Sivanandi, who chased a sand-laden lorry near Tamilpadi, was attacked by the smugglers. His motorbike was damaged by them, he added.
Tiruchuli tahsildar S. Ravichandran said a meeting of officials from revenue, police and mining department had been called for on Monday to discuss the issue.
“We have been instructed to deal strictly with the sand smugglers. Hereafter, the revenue officials are not going to stop with just imposing fine. Under the new guidelines, the Revenue Divisional Officer will order filing of first information report by the police and the owner of vehicle involved in sand smuggling needs to get the seized vehicle from the court of law,” he said.
