Bhandara: Sand smugglers from Madhya Pradesh are openly excavating sand ghats in Maharashtra. Smugglers are rampant, especially at night. Smugglers from Madhya Pradesh are taking advantage of the lack of demarcation in the river basin. The entire sand of Maharashtra is being diverted to Madhya Pradesh and the government's revenue is also declining.
There are Wainganga river and Devnara, Chikhali, Ashti, Nakadongari, Warpindkepar and Chandmara sand ghats on Bawanthadi river. Ghats on Wainganga and Bawanthadi rivers in Madhya Pradesh have been auctioned, while no sand ghats on the Maharashtra border have been auctioned for three years. Sand smugglers from Madhya Pradesh are taking advantage of this.
Seven sand ghats on the border are being excavated daily. The contractors who are being auctioned by the Madhya Pradesh government are coming to Maharashtra and excavating. Every day on these seven ghats a convoy of 300 vehicles is seen excavating. What is special is that excavations are carried out at night on the border of Maharashtra. During the day, however, sand is extracted from the Madhya Pradesh border.
Lack of demarcation in the river basin
The Wainganga and Bawanthadi rivers are not demarcated. The river basin was expected to be demarcated with pillars. For this, the Bhandara Revenue Department needed to take the initiative; But such demarcation is not done. Therefore, it is not known from which state the sand is extracted. As a result, no action has been taken.