15 godowns of VV Minerals group sealed in Tirunelveli dist

As many as 15 godowns run by sand mining company, V V Minerals, in the district were today sealed for allegedly trying to export mineral sand illegally, using forged documents.
Deputy Collector, Vishnu Vardhan inspected the godowns and factories owned by the company and sealed them for storing illegally mined sand, officials said.
Assistant Director of Mines, Krishna Mohan had been suspended for allegedly forging the signature of the Tuticorin District Collector, Ravikumar for facilitating the export, they said.
The incident came to light when the Customs and Central Excise department officials verified the documents permitting the export of 450 tonnes of sand to Dubai from Tuticorin district, they said.

On suspicion, they cross-checked with Tuticorin District Collector who denied having given permission for the export following which the Assistant Director was suspended.
Meanwhile, godowns of the company in Tuticorin district were also sealed.
In 2013, an inquiry committee led by IAS officer Gagandeep Singh Bedi had gone into alleged irregularities in beach sand mining in Tuticorin, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts, and had submitted a report.