NIZAMABAD | oct 13, 2015: District collector Yogita Rana has urged the State government to take a decision on finalising the boundary with Maharashtra to effectively implement the law and protect the interests of the State.
The collector reportedly wrote a letter to chief secretary Rajiv Sharma, explaining the prevailing situation in the district and the problems arising out of border disputes.
She took up the issue in the backdrop of illegal sand mining in border areas in the district. The river Manjeera flows through several villages in Bodhan Assembly constituency. On one side of the river, comes Telangana while the other belongs to Maharashtra.
The Telangana government took up sand mining in select areas through the Telangana State Mineral Development Corporation (TSMDC). However, the Maharashtra government is also continuing sand mining with private contractors. Businessmen from Telangana are taking contracts from the Maharashtra government and are allegedly mining sand in several areas in Telangana. The illegally mined sand is transported to Hyderabad where construction activity is high.
Due to this illegal mining, several villages are facing serious groundwater shortage which in turn is causing problems to the agricultural sector in Bodhan.
Interestingly, Nanded and Nizamabad district officials do not even have proper topographical maps. Nanded district officials have also sent a report to their State government on the issue.
Recently, Yogita Rana and District Superintendent of Police S Chandrasekhar Reddy and all heads of various departments in the district visited several ‘disputed areas’ on the banks of river Manjeera and observed sand mining.
“If both the governments take a decision on conducting a survey in border areas, that would help protect the state’s property and resolve several issues,’’ on of the senior officials told Express. Another official said the district administration was also facing several other problems even in respect of minor lift irrigation schemes.
Police officials have also started taking stringent action against sand mining contractors who were violating the rules while transporting the sand to Hyderabad through Nizamabad district.
“The district administration decided to register PD Act against the contractors, if they continue to violate the rules’’ a senior official told Express.
(Source: http://www.newindianexpress.com/)