PATNA: In the final five-six days, the sand mafia in Bihar has killed three individuals together with a Sub-Inspector of police and grievously injured two individuals in Jamui district of the state. Several different incidents of assaults on authorities officers and frequent supremacy wars in varied districts reveal how these gangs of sand smugglers are operating parallel governments of their respective areas of affect in Bihar.
After the ban on all liquor operations in Bihar, sand mining is among the main sources of income for the state Government. It additionally allots contracts to firms for mining in varied rivers to extract sand for development functions. In the sunshine of this, strongmen in varied areas purchase mining pockets in rivers like Sone, Ganga, Gandak, Kosi, Parman and lots of others.
As per the information of the mining division sand prospecting generated income to the tune of Rs 2,650 crore in 2022-23 however the officers declare that the sand enterprise is price over Rs 15,000 crore in Bihar. As a end result, murders and wars for domination over this profitable enterprise regularly happen.
Since there’s large cash concerned, a variety of politics additionally takes place on these points, and each BJP chief in Bihar claims that the leaders of the RJD are concerned within the enterprise.
“The sand mafia is running a parallel economy in Bihar. I firmly believe that the size of the sand market is over Rs 25 lakh crore in the state and the maximum stake is owned by the mafia. They are politically connected and protection is directly given by Lalu Prasad’s family. Whenever, the RJD comes to power, the Mafia Raj becomes strong in Bihar,” stated BJP Spokesperson Arvind Kumar Singh.
“The way the sand mafia is showing aggression, I firmly believe that these murders are taking place under the protection of state-owned agencies and political parties. The police are claiming that they are taking action against them still a number of murders, including that of police personnel, are taking place due to the war of supremacy between various gangs. The mafia is doing rampant mining in various rivers and the money generated from it will be used in the forthcoming elections,” Singh stated.
However, the RJD refutes all allegations and says that the present authorities has really come down exhausting on the mafiosi.
“After the formation of the Nitish-Tejashwi Government in Bihar, the ‘Mafia Raj’ in sand mining declined. If we evaluate the crime information throughout the present authorities’s tenure with that generated throughout the NDA Government’s rule when the BJP was a part of it, the variety of incidents was greater. I admit that some incidents have occurred in Bihar of late however the police of respective districts acted swiftly towards the offenders and arrested them.
“The allegations leveled by the BJP are utterly baseless. There is not any reality in it. They have turn out to be determined ever because the Nitish-Tejashwi authorities has given lakhs of jobs to the folks. They are clueless about the best way to react to it and therefore they’re leveling baseless allegations towards us,” stated Mritunjay Tiwari, the National Spokesperson of the RJD.
Bihar Police says that it recurrently conducts raids and imposes fines on offenders. An official stated that Bihar Police has arrested 2,439 sand smugglers since January this 12 months and registered 4,435 FIRs for the varied prison offences of the mafiosi.
Over 20,000 automobiles have been additionally seized both for not paying taxes for carrying sand or for different violations.
Bhojpur district is thought for sand mining in Sone River because the sand of this river is in demand for development functions. As a end result, the district police are all the time on their toes right here.
Pramod Kumar, SP, Bhojpur stated, (*3*)
As per the directives of the state authorities, mining was began this 12 months from October 15 and shortly supremacy wars began in Bhojpur, Aurangabad and Patna. Three individuals who have been stated to be members of various gangs have been killed by their rivals.
On November 17 a case of hit-and-run was reported from Jinhara Bazar on Kohbarwa-Jhajha highway within the morning when a rushing truck laden with sand mowed down Sachin Turi (35), who was on the best way to the native market, and sped away.
On November 15, two teenage boys have been mowed down by a rushing truck laden with sand in the identical district. One of them Aayush Kumar (18) died on the spot whereas his buddy Rakesh Kumar was critically injured. The incident occurred at Dadpur-Kabar essential highway at Machindra Village beneath Jhajha police station within the district.
On November 14, SI Prabhat Ranjan was killed and Home Guard Constable Rajesh Kumar was critically injured at Chanwar village beneath Garhi police station.
On November 2, sand smugglers attacked a crew of the Mining Department, leaving one Constable injured.
On November 1, a rushing tractor laden with sand mowed down a Constable in Aurangabad. The checklist of crimes dedicated by the sand mafia is infinite.
Despite sand mining being authorized in Bihar, the state exchequer is dropping income because of the ‘Mafia Raj.’ Keeping this in view, the Mining Department has made allotments of small clusters to authorized bidders throughout public sale and displays digging and transportation via drones and CCTV cameras.
Besides, the state authorities has additionally arrange verify posts, Dharmkantas (Weighing machines) and challan counters at varied locations throughout Bihar to maintain the mafia in verify.
