Notwithstanding Supreme Court’s ban, illegal sand mining is going unabated in Merta. Taking advantage of closure of big mining lease, five lease holders have been supplying bajri to all over the state in gross violation of the Supreme Court’s ban. They have been loading hundreds of trucks daily causing huge revenue loss to the state government. However, the mining department has not been able to conduct replacement study leave alone taking action against the lease holders who are involved in illegal mining.
Following Supreme Court’s order all big sand mining leases were closed on September 16. Thereafter, five small mining lease approved by the mining department used the situation to make a killing. As per rules, these small lease holders cannot use machines, which meant that a lease cannot fill more than six trucks per day. Yet, daily 300 to 350 trucks are being sent off to meet the demand. What’s more, they are mining beyond the area earmarked for them without caring for damage to environment. In a double whammy to state resources, one truck is doing four to five rounds on one e-ravanna. Since, e-ravanna doesn’t require printed slip, the truck drivers have been showing SMS of e-ravanna to cause revenue loss.
