Rasta roko in Vasai to protest action against sand dredging
The sand mafia of Vasai and Virar staged a rasta roko for four hours near the Khanivade toll plaza, Vasai on the busy Mumbai-Ahmedabad National Highway on Sunday morning.
The sand mafia of Vasai and Virar staged a rasta roko for four hours near the Khanivade toll plaza, Vasai on the busy Mumbai-Ahmedabad National Highway on Sunday morning. They were protesting the action taken by the collector and the superintendent of police (SP) of Palghar against the sand mafia, who excavate illegal sand from creeks in Vasai.
As a result, there was a 10km-huge traffic blockage on both sides of the highway and traffic was cleared only after four hours. No arrests have been made so far by the Vasai police.
On Saturday, Abhijit Bangar, Palghar Collector and Sharda Raut, SP, Palghar along with Revenue Department officials, conducted raids at various areas in Vasai and broke boats and diesel engines which were used for mining sand.
The mafia were protesting the seizing of carting trucks and sand by the police.
“The police were destroying idle boats which were not involved in sand mining. Each boat costs around Rs6 lakh and the poor fishermen are in a financial mess,” said Baliram Jadhav, ex-MP from Palghar, who was heading the rasta roko.
The sand mafia have a “rate card”, which states how much bribe should be given to the police, the revenue department, and other officials.
“Even while people are involved in illegal sand mining, the government officials are equally responsible for encouraging the trade, as they take huge bribes to allow sand trucks to pass to Mumbai, Thane and other areas. We want action against the corrupt officials. Who will punish the corrupt police and revenue department officials involved in accepting bribes from the sand miners?” said Jadhav.
Meantime, the officials from the revenue department assured the protestors that they will henceforth be careful while conducting raids at the creeks, and will not destroy idle boats which are not involved in illegal sand mining. They plan to consult villagers while conducting such raids to identify idle boats.
After their assurances, the protest was called off, but vehicular traffic was hit for a good four hours.