Guwahati – The Smuggling route of illegal sand

Illegal quarrying of sand and smuggling from the rivers is rampant in Kamrup (M) district.

Despite the administration is implementing serious steps for preventing such illegal business but continued due to various reasons as sand mafia adopting several vulnerable methods even prepare to manhandle the public, and attacking officials when they tried to restrict the sand smuggling.

While sand smuggling used to take place through interior roads earlier at least to avoid the public glare, transporters these days have been openly using City Highway to reach their destination, passing through the police check posts. The district administration prohibited transportation of sand following huge demand in the state due to blanket ban on sand extraction in that State.

Social activists and experts who have been watching the trade closely since long attribute it to the continuous unaccounted cash flow. A huge profit margin with no control over the price by any government agency is one of the main reasons why illegal mining of river sand continues unabated in the state. The sand mafia in the state is largely controlled by politicians and their close inner circles and thus, it dares to take on the law.

Right from the constable to the higher-ups in the police department, the administration is allegedly involved in the sand mining business. It may be mentioned that Police demand money from the truck drivers for passing through the police check posts.