Sand mining rampant despite ban

KOCHI: The ban on sand mining in the district is not proving effective as many are still engaged in scooping out sand from rivers. Even as the monsoon ban on sand mining is on for the last few months, the enforcement agencies have tasted little success in curbing clandestine activities of illegal sand miners.According to sources the raids are conducted by panchayat officials, RDO officials or jointly conducted with the help of the police.The panchayat secretaries and the RDOs are not coming forward to make any written complaint against sand mining with the police department, top police sources said. Such complaints would help nab the culprits  under theft case which is non-bailable.Though raids are conducted by the police once a week or once in 10 days, sand mining goes on unhindered in many places, the sources said.The police aims to trace the main culprits behind the sand mining operations to book them under Kerala Anti-Social Activities Prevention Act under which the offender would be sent behind bars for six months.Seventeen persons have been already booked under the Act in the last two months.Police can arrest a person under the Act if there are two witnesses. That people are not coming forward to stand witness against the miners is also proving costly for the police.The operation against sand miners is so disorganised that the land revenue department does not have any records about the raids carried out against the illegal miners for a said period.Sources in the land revenue department said that they only had the information that the passes for sand mining from rivers are issued by the panchayats while the mining department issued passes for sand mining on land.Interestingly, the mining department has not issued any passes for mining sand on land.River Periyar is being plundered by sand miners and they concentrate in areas  that are safe for them to carry out their operations.