#illegal sand mining racket

[supernews]

ED raids house of Punjab CM's nephew in illegal sand mining case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday morning, just weeks before assembly elections, carried out raids at ten different locations belonging to Punjab Chief Minster Charanjit Singh Channi's nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey, in connection with a Prevention of Money Laundering case pertaining to illegal sand mining in Punjab.

A source said that the ED team conducted first raid at the residence of Honey which is at Homeland Heights early Tuesday morning. No one was allowed to leave the house. The ED was scanning various documents and computers.

The source said that raids of the ED were underway at ten locations across Punjab in illegal sand mining case.

The political parties in Punjab had earlier accused the Chief Minister many times over illegal mining in his own constituency. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had tweeted several times regarding the ongoing illegal sand mining racket. He had tweeted that Punjab CM Channi was not doing anything to stop it.

Local police were already looking into the matter. And on the basis of the local police probe, the ED initiated a money laundering probe.

As of now, the ED has not made any statement regarding the ongoing raids. The sources said that once the raids are over, only then the probe agency will release any statement.

During the raid the ED recorded the statement of those who were present at the house of Honey, the nephew of the Chief Minister.

A large number of people had gathered outside the house and local police were called to avoid any untoward incident.

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[newsupdatesbykiara]

ED raids house of Punjab CM's nephew in illegal sand mining case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday morning, just weeks before assembly elections, carried out raids at ten different locations belonging to Punjab Chief Minster Charanjit Singh Channi's nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey, in connection with a Prevention of Money Laundering case pertaining to illegal sand mining in Punjab. A source said that the ED team conducted first raid at the residence of Honey which is at Homeland Heights early Tuesday morning. No one was allowed to leave the house. The ED was scanning various documents and computers. The source said that raids of the ED were underway at ten locations across Punjab in illegal sand mining case. The political parties in Punjab had earlier accused the Chief Minister many times over illegal mining in his own constituency. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had tweeted several times regarding the ongoing illegal sand mining racket. He had tweeted that Punjab CM Channi was not doing anything to stop it.

[everythingshouldbereality]

Amritsar: SHO suspended in illegal mining racket busted

Amritsar: SHO suspended in illegal mining racket busted

Image Source : PTI An illegal mining racket was unearthed in Amritsar’s Kassowal village in which two persons were arrested, and SHO was suspended. Amritsar (Rural) Police have unearthed an illegal sand mining racket near Kassowal village here in which two persons were arrested in this connection while the SHO of the area police station has been suspended, officials said on Sunday. Police seized…

[newsmatters]

Amritsar: SHO suspended in illegal mining racket busted

Amritsar: SHO suspended in illegal mining racket busted

Image Source : PTI An illegal mining racket was unearthed in Amritsar’s Kassowal village in which two persons were arrested, and SHO was suspended. Amritsar (Rural) Police have unearthed an illegal sand mining racket near Kassowal village here in which two persons were arrested in this connection while the SHO of the area police station has been suspended, officials said on Sunday. Police seized…

[the--revelation]

India’s Gruesome Tales of Illegal Sand Mining undermine Environment Conservation Initiatives

                                 Photo Credit : Nandakumar Pawar

By Vineet Malik | February 06, 2021 | London, England

193 Died in River Sand Mining Incidents in India in 2019-20

The environment has been paying a substantial price over quenching the greed of human beings for amassing wealth at the cost of widespread devastation and endangering our evolution.

A recent research published by “International Journal of Science” underscored the adverse effects of sand mining on the environment in India.

Illegal sand mining has resulted in changing the flow and degradation of rivers and coastal ecosystem, soil erosion, deepening of rivers and estuaries, undermining bridges, increasing the risk of flooding, eliminating buffers against storm surges, disturbance of the water table leading to topographic disorder and severe ecological imbalance.

Sand mining in India is regulated through various national and province laws where-in, it should be legitimately carried out only after obtaining approvals from statutory bodies along with mandatory safety measures. Unfortunately, that seldom happens according to the rule book.

Involvement of sand mafias in bludgeoning people to death is often debated by scores of people in society however such instances are only surging with time that has further led to a feeling of anguish and pain among the loved ones of those who lost their lives for protesting against illegal sand mining. The illegal sand mining activities involve the local mafia who often use arms and weapons to run the racket.

According to a report in NewsClick, journalist Shubham Mani Tripathi employed with a local newspaper : Kampu Mail was shot dead by unidentified persons on June 19 last year for reporting on illegal sand mafia activities in Uttar Pradesh province. 

Sumaira Abdulali, founder of Awaaz Foundation - an environmental NGO in Mumbai says, “As sand is one of the indispensable ingredient for driving the economy through construction growth agenda, therefore political will to cease illegal sand mining is lacking.”

                                 Photo Credit : Nandakumar Pawar

Recently, a virtual dialogue titled “Blood on the Sand” focused on dangers of riverbed mining in South Asia was organised by Third Pole where-in the role in governance of sand mining and the failure of the Government was discussed at length by the participants.

Justice Madan Lokur, a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India recently expressed concern over deteriorating law and order situation and said “The core issue of implementation of sand mining laws gets concealed on a wrong premise of policy decisions.”

In late 2020, South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) released a shocking report titled “193 dead in River Sand Mining incidents in India in 2019-20”. The said report underscored illegal sand mining activities adversely impacting river ecosystem and riparian communities.

The report also highlighted detailed province wise data of people directly or indirectly alleged to have been killed due to illegal sand mining activities, involvement of politicos and cited deterioration of the ground situation.

Despite several protests by locals and number of court orders reprimanding the central and province governments, people from all sections of society are targeted for speaking against unlawful sand mining activities.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) with a title M Alagarsamy Vs Union of India filed in the Supreme Court of India in 2018 with a plea to cease all river and beach sand mining activities by Advocate Pranav Sachdeva still remains undecided.

Advocate Sachdeva says “The only way to stop the current loot, is by scrapping all existing sand mining leases/licenses across the Country and thereafter work in conformity with the lawful procedures.”

[corevestor]

Illegal sand stock worth Rs 14.45 crore was seized by Rajkot Range police along with equipment and vehicles at Bhopamadi in Movasa, 15 km from Dwarka.

[vasainews-blog]

Vasai News: Cops bust illegal sand mining racket in Virar mangroves

For more details visit: http://bit.ly/2WKAqBN

[supernews]

Illegal mining case: ED recovers Rs 6cr in cash during raids in Punjab

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday recovered Rs 6 crore in cash during the raids there were carried out in Punjab in connection with a illegal mining case.

A source said Rs 4 crore in cash was recovered from the house of Bhupinder Singh Honey, the nephew of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi. Another Rs 2 crore was recovered from the house of one Sandeep Kumar.

The raids were conducted by the ED at more than 10 locations including Bhupinder Singh Honey's home.

The ED case is on the basis of a two-year-old FIR.

Punjab Police had on March 7, 2018, lodged a case against more than 10 persons.

The ED had initiated a money laundering probe on the basis of this FIR pertaining to illegal sand mining in Punjab.

The FIR has been accessed by IANS which was filed under several sections of IPC.

The ED found that money was being laundered by the accused involved in the case and they started probing the matter.

A source said that ED team which conducted raids at different premises including of residence of Bhupinder Singh Honey which is at Homeland Heights, went on till late Tuesday evening.

The ED team reached several premises early Tuesday mornings. At the home of Punjab CM's nephew, no one was allowed to leave or enter the house. The ED scanned various documents and computers.

The raids have also drawn political reactions. The political parties had already accused the Punjab Chief Minister many times over illegal mining in his own constituency.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had tweeted several times regarding the ongoing illegal sand mining racket.

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