This plea was made after Ramesh on Sunday said that his ministry would impose a blanket ban on sand mining across the country if the Uttarakhand government did not stop illegal sand mining on the banks of the Ganga within three weeks. Environmentalists said there has been a threefold increase in illegal sand mining activity in the last few months, especially in coastal areas close to urban conglomerations where there is a huge demand for sand.
The sand mafia groups indulge in dredging along the creeks at Thane, Navi Mumbai, Raigad and Ratnagiri with the blessings of local political leaders. "In Maharashtra, as in other parts of the country, local politicians control the businesses, forming mafias in collusion with administrative and police machinery," Sumaira Abdulali, convenor of Awaaz foundation, said. She said the mafia also resorts to violence when citizens try to stop illegal mining. "The number of such attacks has been escalating and it is high time the state machinery intervened,'' said Abdulali has now written to Ramesh to impose a ban in the state. Read the full report here.
Source: Viju B, TNN, Mumbai.
