Early on Sunday morning, a team of Revenue Department officers raided a site on the banks of the Vaitarna River and destroyed 22 fibreglass boats and 3 diesel engines, and seized black sand worth lakhs of rupees. No arrests could be made as the site was deserted.
The Hindu ’s story on August 5 (‘Vaitarna rail bridge’s foundation damaged by sand mining: WR’) highlighted the danger to the bridge, which is the sole rail link connecting Mumbai with Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and north India. Western Railway authorities had confirmed that the foundations of the bridge, has been damaged by rampant sand mining, and that the WR has taken preventive steps like putting sandbag near the support pillars and banning any activity within 500 m. of the rail bridge, as it could spell danger to the lone bridge which connects to ,though the warnings are clearly ignored by the powerful sand mafia. The Hindu ’s report alerted Gajendra Patole, Tehsildar, Vasai, who initiated and led the raid to check on illegal sand mining near the river.
The Revenue Department officials reached the site at around 0530 hours on Sunday and destroyed the boats and the diesel engines used to power suction pumps that dredged sand from the river bed. Mr. Patole said, “We have destroyed 22 fibre boats and 3 diesel engines, but due to the odd hours, the raid was a surprise, and we could not find any culprits at the various sites.” Meanwhile, PSI Tushar Bhadane of Virar police station said that black sand worth lakhs had been seized and sand-mining equipment had been destroyed as per the orders of the Tehsildar.
The writer is a freelance journalist
