Large quantity of sand is being lifted in tractors and bullock carts everyday, thanks to ineffective monitoring by Public Works Department and revenue officials.

With no water flow in the river owing to the summer, the entire bed is dry.

“On an average, miners have been lifting over 50 tractor loads of sand every day. Bullock carts are also used in the process. Many miners do not have a valid permit to lift sand. There is none to monitor the quantum of sand being lifted,” say Mullipadi residents.

Illegal miners do not even spare the dusty soil from the river bed.

Rampant sand mining has resulted in depletion of groundwater at villages along the banks of the Santhanavarthini river.

The irony is that lifting of sand without any permission from the authorities is being carried out in broad daylight. The authorities have turned a blind eye to this illegal practice.

“We are wondering how officials have failed to take effective steps to curb the exploitation of a natural resource. It is also posing a serious threat to ecosystem,” say farmers in these parts.

With no sand to absorb water on the river bed, even seasonal flow in the river would flow off quickly without recharging the groundwater, they said. If the exploitation is to continue at this rate, it would lead to serious ecological problems soon.

But a senior revenue official said “we could not act independently owing to political pressure. If we catch a lorry or tractor with sand, we are told to free them immediately.”