Balasore administration cracks whip on illegal sand mining

Balasore: Following allegations of violation of mining rules, Balasore district administration today raided a sand quarry at Mohammad Nagarpatna area in Jaleswar and detained five sand-laden dumpers and an excavator.

The raid was conducted by a joint team comprising officials of the district administration and police.

“We had received information that the sand mining was being carried out through sump pumps and such type of mining through mechanical process is prohibited under the mining rules,” said Balasore Sub-Collector, Nilu Mohapatra.

Mohapatra further informed that so far the team has sized a sump pump and efforts are on to recover another from the river.

Sand mining through sumps mining is a method whereby ground water is allowed to seep into excavation beneath the river and collected in sumps and pumped away for disposal. Such excavation and extraction is being carried out entirely from the river bed.

Such large scale illegal and unscientific mining can directly impact the ecology of the river.

“We have detained few vehicles and the administration will take necessary action if there would have been violation of mining rules,” said Jaleswar SDPO, Ramchadra Gouda.