Four contractors fined Rs 9.20 crore for illegal sand dredging

Four contractors have been together slapped with fines of Rs 9.20 crore for allegedly extracting sand beyond the permissible limit from a river bed in the neighbouring Buldhana district.
This is the biggest action initiated so far against the unscrupulous contractors in the region, said sources at sub-division office in Mehkar.
The offenders have been identified as Ram Kisan Darade (Rs 6.44 crore), Amit Kalkar (over Rs 87 lakh), Madhav Deshmukh (over Rs 82 lakh) and Manik Deshmukh (Rs 1.76 crore), sources said today.
Action was taken against the contractors by a committee led by SDO Ibrahim Chaudhary which found them guilty under Section 48 (7 and 8) of the Sand Regulation Act for illegal dredging of sand from Khadak Purna river.

The contractors extracted sand which was more than the auctioned limit, sources said.
The committee was formed by the district collector on the complaint of a leader of the Peoples Republican Party.