No check on illegal gravel mining from Tawi riverbed

Tribune News Service

Jammu, January 25

Post-September 2014 floods, illegal sand and gravel mining from the Tawi is going on while the Flood Control, Geology and Mining Departments are not doing anything to stop the practice.

Every day hundreds of tractor-trailers and tippers are seen extracting sand and gravel from the riverbed.

Sources in the Flood Control Department said earlier tenders were floated, through which contracts were awarded for extracting sand and gravel from the riverbed. But for the past few years, tenders had not been floated.

“The tendering process has to be done by the Geology and Mining Department, but the area has to be specified by the Flood Control Department. There is no coordination between the two and the sand mafia continues to take advantage of the situation,” said the sources. They alleged that the mafia had a strong backing of politicians and officials.

The illegal mining is leading to loss of crores of rupees to the state exchequer, but the state government seems unfazed by it.

After the 2014 floods, the practice has picked up as floods brought sand and gravel in a huge quantity from upstream. “The extraction of sand and gravel is needed through a proper procedure,” the departmental sources added.

Despite repeated calls, officials of the Flood Control Department could not be contacted for comments.