PERNEM: Following a rap by the High Court of Bombay at Goa over illegal sand mining, Pernem Police, Captain of Ports, and the Pernem Mamlatdar jumped out of their quicksand of inefficiency on this issue, which even the High Court alluded to.
In a joint operation on Tuesday, the police and the Captain of Ports team seized 26 boats from River Tiracol, allegedly involved in the illegal extraction of sand.
The team found 20 boats anchored on the riverbank while six boats, all unregistered, were seized from the river at Nhaibag-Poroscodem.
Pernem PI Vikaran Naik said that the police have been regularly patrolling at the site and had been conducting raids whenever specific information or complaints were received about illegal sand extraction. He said that 26 boats were seized in a joint operation and that further investigations will be conducted by the police and the Captain of Ports.
Pernem Mamlatdar Anant Malik said that the 20 boats, which were seized from the riverbank, will be checked as to how many of them were registered and had numbers while all six which were seized from the river were unregistered.
Deputy Director of Captain of Ports, Sirsaikar said that the team had gone to the Pernem taluka to inspect if the boats were registered or not, and in which villages sand was being extracted illegally. During the inspection, they spotted 26 boats at Poroscodem and seized them. He said that the CoP will conduct an inquiry to find out how many boats had valid licenses and action would be initiated against those found operating unregistered boats.
However, during the inspection, the team did not find any boat laden with sand or sand deposited on the riverbank. No arrests were made.
On Monday, the High Court had pulled up the State government and the police for failing to initiate action against those involved in illegal sand extraction after the petitioner had complained that sand was illegally extracted on two occasions on April 10 and 18. The Court has now asked the Chief Secretary, Director General of Police (DGP), Pernem Mamlatdar and the Pernem Police to file their affidavits latest by May 2.