Jewar, Uttar Pradesh:
Barely a week after sub-divisional magistrate of Gautam Budh Nagar, Durga Shakti Nagpal, was suspended by the Uttar Pradesh government over what many believe her crackdown against the sand mafia, rampant illegal sand mining along the Yamuna continues unabated.
Mining in Noida and Greater Noida may have been temporarily halted as a result of the crackdown by Ms Nagpal, but near Jewar, located downstream from Greater Noida, NDTV found many men busy loading their tractor trolleys with sand being illegally mined, that too in broad daylight along the busy highway.
NDTV approached one of the tractors carting sand and filmed the conversation on hidden camera.
NDTV: How much is the rate now?
Miner: It used to be Rs 3,000. It is Rs 4,000 now.
NDTV: Can you get the material to Noida?
Miner: Not right now, because of the checks.
Illegal sand mining is big business, and has thrived due to a strong builder-political nexus. No royalty is paid to the government and each trolley filled with sand fetches as high as Rs 4-5,000.
In recent months, Ms Nagpal, a 2009-batch IAS officer who was posted in UP just six months ago, had seized nearly 300 trolleys of sand being illegally mined from the Yamuna river bed and slapped a fine of around Rs. two crore on the accused.
In April this year, the National Green Tribunal issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government to ensure protection of the Yamuna bed, which includes demolishing illegal constructions. But with huge profits from illegal sand mining, the ground realities are starkly different.