SINGRAULI: In a major action against illegal sand mining on the banks of Rihand river in Singrauli district, Madhya Pradesh officials during the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday seized 200 trucks and two excavating machines.
All the 200 trucks had come from Varanasi border in the Uttar Pradesh and bore registration numbers of UP.
According Sub Divisional Magistrate Vikas Singh, the drivers of the trucks had parked their vehicles in such a manner that it was impossible for any other vehicle to reach the spot.
“Our team comprising of police officers and officers from the mining department in fact had to walk for over five km to reach the spot. Their informers were guarding the entire route, but we managed to reach the exact spot and seized all the trucks,” he said.
The 200 seized trucks are now being brought to the police lines where they can be kept safe. Police on Thursday had problems finding drivers for the vehicles as the drivers of the seized vehicles fled the spot last night.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan before embarking upon his Narmada Seva Yatra, earlier this year, had banned all kinds of mining from Narmada river and had also banned use of all kinds of machines in all the rivers across the state.
The chief minister himself has faced flack on the issue as members of his family have been found to be active in the mining business. A young mining officer had in fact recently seized two dumpers of the chief minister’s nephew after they were found carrying illegally mined sand.
