Elections have come and gone but the ‘Mafia Raj’, which originated from illegal cattle smuggling and sand mining in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, is getting stronger. Trucks full of illegally mined sand from around 80 sites along the Mayurakshi, Ajay and Brahmani rivers here, despite a crackdown by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on politicians involved in such activities. Long queues can still be seen.
Local youth monitor illegal activities
The entire ‘operation’, from the actual mining with the help of excavators to loading them into trucks, is allegedly supervised by local youths working for powerful people, who are in good nexus with the local police. Cattle smuggling has seen a decline after the CBI started probing smuggling cases, but illegal sand mining still remains a source of income for many families in the area.
Illegal mining of sand is done from Ajay, Mayurakshi, Brahmani river
A leader of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) alleged on request of anonymity, ‘Who says sand mining does not happen in Birbhum? You go to the banks of Ajay, Mayurakshi, Brahmani, where you will see laborers working for the powerful and the accessible, filling sand in lorries.
Lorries are loaded with JCB machines
Many JCB machines will be seen filling sand in lorries on the banks of Ajay river near Bolpur. Some people working for these ‘powerful’ businessmen in the district will be seen keeping an eye on the entire process. Madanmohan Gupta, a well-known sand trader in Nanoor, told that he is finding it difficult to run the business after the change of power in the state administration and the rise in stature of Birbhum president of Trinamool Congress, Anubrata Mondal. Mandal was arrested by the central agencies in August 2022.
Situation improved after Anubrata Mandal’s arrest: businessman
From his residence at Ratanpally in Shantiniketan, Gupta claimed that illegal sand mining was earning Rs 35-40 lakh on an average every day and “the business was also growing”. Gupta said, ‘Mining takes place near the banks of rivers, which come under panchayat areas. Ours is a legitimate business and we have been in this business for many generations. But, now we are struggling because of illegal mining. Things have improved with the arrest of Anubrata Mandal.
Sand is sent to these states including Jharkhand, Bihar
The sand, after being illegally mined, is ‘smuggled’ to Gujarat, Kerala, neighboring Jharkhand, parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar besides North 24 Parganas district, Durgapur and Asansol in West Burdwan district and Behrampur in Murshidabad district goes.
We ended the practice during the Left rule
When contacted, local MLA Ashish Bandyopadhyay denied that sand was being mined illegally in the district. Bandyopadhyay is also the Deputy Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. Bandyopadhyay said, ‘There is no illegal sand mining in Birbhum. These are baseless and false allegations of the opposition parties. Our party has put an end to any such practice that started during the Left Front rule.
