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Tippers carrying illegal sand pose threat to Koka wildlife

Nagpur: Tipper trucks excavating sand illegally from Wainganga river and passing through Navegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR) stretches in Koka Wildlife Sanctuary, Bhandara, is posing serious threat to wildlife.

Koka (100 sqkm) is part of 650 sqkm NNTR spread in Gondia and Bhandara districts. It was notified in July, 2013, as a sanctuary considering its ecological value and long-term conservation of tigers.



However, of late, there is spurt in illegal sand mining from Mohadi sand ghats of Wainganga. Day and night, at least 300 heavy tippers loaded with sand use Tumsar-Sakoli and Bhandara-Kardi state highways, 6km and 2.5km of which, respectively, pass through Koka sanctuary.

Sand mafia from Nagpur, Bhandara, Tumsar and Sakoli are operating through these routes for the past several years, but the activity seems to have been overlooked by forest, revenue and police officials. According to sources, earlier there used to be fewer heavy trucks moving through Koka, but owing to spurt in construction activity like roads, housing and various development projects, number of vehicles excavating sand illegally has increased manifold.

When contacted, Koka range forest officer (RFO) Sachin Jadhav admitted that these tippers pose serious threat to wild animals crossing the roads. “There have been several herbivore deaths on these roads last year many of which remained unnoticed,” he says.

Recently, Koka forest officials have imposed checks at its post in Sonegaon to curb movement of trucks. However, the sand mafia activities remained unrelenting. On February 28, one of the vehicle owners forcefully took his two sand-laden tippers from the check-post threatening the forest staff.

Sources told TOI, after the February 28 incident Koka RFO Jadhav has been receiving threats from the gangsters. He was also summoned by a local MLA’s PA to ‘sort out’ the problem. When the RFO refused to show up, he was charged with extorting money from tipper drivers.

Shockingly, even as sand is being extracted illegally from Maharashtra side, papers in possession of TOI show royalty is being paid to neighbouring Madhya Pradesh ostensibly to show that sand is being transported from Balaghat district, which is far away from Bhandara.

Bhandara district mining officer (DMO) Suresh Naitam admited that sand transporters pay royalty to MP causing huge loss to Maharashtra. “We have apprised tehsildars and RTO flying squads about the illegal excavation and they are expected to take action. The February 28 incident was not brought to our notice by the forest department,” Naitam said.

Naitam added in Bhandara, there are 37 sand ghats of which 11 were auctioned for Rs12 crore in first round. Auction of more ghats is in process. However, three ghats in Mohadi from where sand is being extracted have not been auctioned yet.

Bhandara SP Arvind Salve said, “I have joined recently. We will take action against illegal sand mafia.”

SAND STORY

* Daily over 300 tippers loaded with sand move through state highways Tumsar-Sakoli and Bhandara-Kardi

* 8.5km of these roads pass through Koka wildlife sanctuary posing danger to animals

* Local transporters on papers show the sand is brought from Warashivni in Balaghat and pay royalty to MP

* But the sand is actually being extracted from Wainganga river in Bhandara district. State loses huge money towards royalty

* Sand procured illegally costs Rs7,000 per tipper but is sold for Rs17,000

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