Navi Mumbai | Sept 26, 2016: Vehicles ferrying sand illegally were seized and Rs 3.5 lakh penalty imposed on eight transporters at Pali-Unher phata recently.
The action against illegal sand dredging and transportation in Navi Mumbai was undertaken by Sudhagad tehsildar B N Nimbalkar and revenue department official Vishal Chorghe. The revenue department officials came across dumpers loaded with sand stranded on roads as the Amba river bridge was flooded. The traffic jam helped the officials seize the vehicles. The transporters were taking the sand to Ambernath, Badlapur, Karjat, Vangani, Mamdapur.
Locals claim that the sand mafia use suction pumps to extract sand. Large number of vehicles illegally transport sand via Wakan-Pali-Khopoli state highway. The district mining officer Roshan Mesram said, "It seems someone is monitoring our office. Whenever we plan a raid, the information is leaked leading to failure of the raid."
(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)