Dinesh Kamath's news 'Criminal activities of sand mafia in Navi Mumbai need to be controlled' that was published in Newsband

Criminal activities of sand mafia in Navi Mumbai need to be controlled

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: The cases of Illegal sand mining in Navi Mumbai are on the rise. During recent times many have been spotted indulging in illegal sand mining near the creeks. In spite of Navi Mumbai policemen having seized a huge quantity of illegally excavated sand and machinery, this criminal activity continues. There are complaints about sand being excavated legally lodged in many police stations in Navi Mumbai but it seems the city police are finding it extremely difficult to control such illegal activities. It could be owing to less number of staff or the mafia that pursues illegal sand mining activities could be too strong for city police to tackle. But the time has come when something very drastic that will be needed to be done to control this particular type of crime.

It is not that Navi Mumbai police are doing absolutely nothing about this crime. In fact, the city police have done commendable jobs of seizing machineries and excavated sand from time to time. They have been raiding promptly the places from where the tip offs about sand mining crimes taking place were reported. But most of the time the criminals involved in such illegal activities happen to escape leaving behind the sand and machineries which are seized by the cops.

There is a need to come up with strong policy to totally prevent illegal sand mining and the criminals involved in the activity should be denied access to the creek whether by road or sea. A number of times, the police have seized the boats used for such activities. 

The sand which are excavated illegally by the mafia are sold to the builders particularly. These builders buy the sand at a cheaper rate in spite of knowing that they are illegally excavated along the creek in the city. The senior policemen are of the opinion that even such builders who buy illegally excavated sand and thus encourage illegal sand mining should also be brought to book. If this is done the builders will be under constant fear of being arrested by Law if they purchase smuggled sand and this in turn can prevent them from buying the sand which in turn will lessen the cases of illegal sand mining happening in the city.

If the state government too provides our city cops with more manpower and appropriate technological equipment, such cases of illegal sand mining can be prevented to a great extent if not totally.

Just few days back, a raid was carried out in Kharghar where three trucks half-filled with illegally extracted sand were seized. But here again the persons who committed this crime managed to escape after leaving behind the three trucks. If the police manages to nab at least one main person indulging in such crime, it will be possible to reach the mastermind behind this criminal activity which is on the rise in the city. The city police did manage to arrest some miscreants but there is a need to nab a person who can lead them to the brain who strategizes all these criminal activities.

The main thing is the laws pertaining to illegal sand mining which are not stringent owing to which the police are not able to take stern action against the sand mafia who manage to go scot-free after paying the penalty imposed by Law. Thus, there is an urgent need to come up with strict laws and provide the policemen with both manpower and sophisticated equipment that will enable them to implement the laws.