Vijayawada: Blame game has begun in illegal sand mining in Krishna district. The ACP-East said the revenue department had not submitted the required details so far, about the ownership details of the land, from where 1,67,000 cubic metres of earth was removed illegally.
Without the report of the tahsildar, the police cannot initiate action against the accused, even though an FIR is registered, according to the ACP.
The revenue department’s version is in contrast to the version of ACP-East. They say that they have mentioned all the details in the complaint lodged with the police.
The assistant director-Mines and Geology (Vigilance) M. Subrahmanyam has issued show cause to the accused in the illegal de-casting of sand from Lankapalli Lanka village, on August 22.
With the Notice No.3294lVie/2017, the AD (M&G)-Vigilance has stated that illegal removal of ordinary earth by Ganta Suresh and others, in R.S.No's. 40,47,42,43 and 44 at Lankapalli Lanka village, Pamidimukkala mandal, Krishna district was inspected by the tahsildar of Pamidimukkala and his team. In this regard, the AD(M&G) has citied the reference of the letter written by tahsildar, with No: Rc.B/839 /2017.
The AD-M&G (Vigilance) has stated that the tahsildar, Pamidimukkala, Krishna district, has reported the same as per the instructions of the collector, Krishna district.
As there is no follow up since August 22 either from revenue or from police, it is learnt that the accused is trying to lobby through his network in Telugu Desam party.
When the issue was taken to the notice of ACP-East Vijay Bhaskar, he said that unless they receive a report from revenue, they can’t move forward in this case, though FIR is registered.
Call 1100 in case of illegal sand mining
Mines and Geology minister Sujay Krishna Ranga Rao appealed to the public call on Praja Vedika number 1100 if those selling sand demand for more than the price announced by the government.
He made surprise visit to sand reaches in Ibrahimpatnam in Krishna district and verified the details of sand transportation to confirm if it is for personal use or for commercial purpose.
On Wednesday morning, the minister stopped a lorry and enquired the driver for details and took the contact details of the destination point for confirmation. He himself spoke to the buyer and sent his team to visit the place for cross-checking on construction. The team confirmed the same after verifying the construction.
The minister stopped around 6 other vehicles and repeated the same process of checking and confirming. Later, he said all the vehicles were transporting sand for genuine reasons.
Speaking to the media, Mr Sujay said all joint collectors would be told to conduct raids and randomly check all the sand reaches to confirm the price of sand and transportation charges, as per the state government’s sand policy.
While speaking to this correspondent, the minister said the government motto was to supply sand for free to the public. For this purpose, it had even foregone its revenue of '500 to '700 crores, which can be earned as seigniorage on sand.
With regard to illegal transportation of sand, he said he himself had begun raids and that it would be continued by the district joint collectors till everything is set right and awareness is created among the pubic about free supply of sand. He said inter-state mobile check points would be set up to curb illegal transportation of sand.
