Illegal miners destroy hillock
Illegal mining of soil is continuing unabated in Kothagudem. Bodagutta. A small hillock in Chunchupalli mandal will disappear if officials do not check the unrestrained mining of soil.
The soil is used at real estate ventures. Though the miners claim that the soil was shifted to use for government works, the soil ends up at private projects. According to an estimate, nearly 10,000 tonnes of soil was mined illegally and shifted to the private projects. There are also allegations that the leaders of the ruling party were behind the mining. The value of illegal mining is around `2 crore.
Two small hillocks in the area have been mined to the ground due to soil mining. However, nonchalant mining officials have been looking the other way for the last five years. K. Venkaiah, a local, said the soil was being illegally mined at his area for the last two months and roads were damaged due to the continuous plying of tractors transporting the soil.
On the complaint of locals, the police raided the place and recovered the vehicles.
On Sunday, Chunchupalli sub-inspector Aruna seized eight tractors and a JCB machine at the Bodagutta hillock. As per police investigation, about 12 tractors were used for illegal mining of soil from Bodagutta.
Apart from soil, sand and teak are also smuggled from Bhadradri district.
The new sand beds — having up to three lakh tonnes of sand — are formed every year after monsoon along the river Godavari in the district. However, there is no proper check on the utilisation of such rich minerals.
The forest area of Bhadradri district has also become a haven for smugglers. So far, teak worth of crores of rupees was shifted illegally to Hyderabad and other cities.