Rampurhat (WB), Jul 7 (PTI) Elections have come and gone, but the ‘mafia raj’ grown out of the illegal cattle smuggling and sand mining continues to grow from strength to strength in West Bengal’s Birbhum district. Long lines of trucks can still be spied carrying away sand mined illegally from about 80 sites scattered along the Mayurakshi, Ajay, and Brahmani rivers here, despite a crackdown by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the alleged leaders who “master-minded” these operations.
The entire “operation” from actual mining using excavators to loading and actual trucking out is supervised by local youths who allegedly work for strongmen who remain well-connected with the local police.
While there has been a slow decline in cattle smuggling through the district after the CBI, started probing the smuggling operations, illegal sand mining remains a potent source of income for many families in this region.
“Who said that there is no sand mining happening in Birbhum? You go to the banks of Ajay, Mayurakshi, Brahmani you will see lorries being filled with sand by people working for those who have connections and power,” a local CPI(M) leader, who wished to remain unnamed, alleged.
When PTI visited the banks of Ajay near Bolpur in the district, several JCBs were seen working in tandem and loading sand in lorries and the entire process was manned by a few employees of “powerful” businessmen in the district.
In Nanoor, Madanmohan Gupta, a well-known sand trader told PTI, how difficult it has been to run his business after the shift in power in the state administration and the rise of Anubrata Mondal, the TMC Birbhum president who was arrested in August 2022 by central agencies.
Sitting at his residence in Ratan Pally in Santiniketan, Gupta claimed that there was an average earning of Rs 35-40 lakh per day from the illegal sand mining and the “trade was expanding”.
“The mining is done along the river banks of the rivers and they fall under the panchayat areas. We have a legal business and we are doing this for several generations. Now, because of the illegal mining, we are struggling. However, Mondal’s arrest has improved things,” Gupta told PTI.
Sand after being illegally mined is “smuggled” to Gujarat, Kerala, neighbouring Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, some parts of Odisha, Bihar apart from North 24 Parganas district, Durgapur and Asansol in Paschim Bardhaman district, and Behrampur in Murshidabad district.
When contacted, local MLA Ashish Bandyopadhyay, who is also the Deputy Speaker of the Bengal Assembly denied that sand was being illegally mined in the district.
“There is no illegal sand mining in Birbhum. These are baseless and false allegations of opposition parties. Our party has ended any such practice which started during the Left Front regime,” Bandyopadhyay said. PTI SCH JRC
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