Sand mafia ravages water table

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posted on 13 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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TUMKUR: Though the crack down on illegal sand mining by Koratagere police came late, it exposed the fact that unabated sand mafia ..

TUMKUR: Though the crack down on illegal sand mining by Koratagere police came late, it exposed the fact that unabated sand mafia had aggravated the problems of the arid zones in the district during last several years.
More shockingly, the Tuesday's crack down revealed that sand mafia had extended its tentacles to far away places and even to Andhra Pradesh. However, the drying of seasonal rivers and the depletion of water table, which are the results of uncontrolled sand mining are yet to gain attention. In fact, till 2004, the administration treated the problem of water table depletion seriously and took steps to control it. Dykes were constructed along the banks of Suvarnamukhi and Kumudwathi rivers. The efforts paid fruit as the open wells were brimming with water indicating improvement.

However, the political uncertainty in later days at Koratagere and Madhugiri constituencies made way for the sand mafia to go on a heedless sand extraction.

Meanwhile, G Parameshwara, who was new to the Koratagere constituency, also failed to control the sand mining. Sources in Congress party said that, Parameshwara's busy schedule as the KPCC chief allowed the local leaders to cash in on the situation.

The situation aggravated when the government called tenders for legal sand mining. The officials now have failed to ensure the legality of the mining as people who bought the tenders are engaged in uncontrolled sand mining on the river bed.