Lorries mining sand illegally seized

Public Works Department officials in Dharwad seized lorries on charges of illegal transportation of sand.

Acting on a tip-off the PWD team stopped the lorries carrying sand from Harihar to Dharwad and on checking found that the operators did not have the documents to prove that they were authorized to transport the sand.

The lorries were handed over to Vidyagiri police. It may be recalled that Dharwad deputy commissioner Darpan Jain had on April 25 this year warned private operators of transport vehicles in Dharwad district that those flouting rules may lose their permit and their vehicle seized. The DC had asked the PWD, Mines and Geology, RTO and Revenue departments to depute officers in rotation to check illegal activity and take necessary action against culprits.

Exactly a month after that, Jain along with officials of the mines and geology department raided the illegal sand depots and seized documents.

Jain and his team swooped on sand depots located at near Hubli Toll Naka, Tegur plot and behind ESI hospital. The owners of the stockyard did not turn up to offer their explanation to the DC prompting Jain to instruct officials from geology department to collect all the relevant information and documents including transport permits.

Jain said, the district administration has formed District Sand Monitoring Committee and has empowered the committee to check the re-sale of sand and book the culprit. He warned them not to pass the buck to other department as they have full powers to seize the illegal sand laden trucks and impose hefty penalty on them.