WB Government Received Letter from Odisha Urging to Stop Sand Lifting from Subarnarekha River-Bed

Kolkata: The Odisha government has wrote a letter to its West Bengal ‘counterpart’ asking the later to hold illegal sand lifting from the Subarnarekha River, which is in West Midnapore district adjoining to  Jaleswar tehsil of Balasore district.

Reports are that the Odisha's Principal Secretary of Revenue Department Mona Sharma has wrote a a letter to WB's Principal Secretary of Commerce and Industries Krishna Gupta urging to hold a joint meeting with West Midnapore collector and finalize the auctioning of the land mines.

The letter is a follow up of a notification by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests in 2014 that said to issue and auction by adjoining states that share river beds within five to ten kms of the inter-state boundaries. “After joint meeting they can identify the sairat sources which will be leased out by the respective collectors following the approval of the mining plan and necessary environmental clearances,” as the letter stated.

According to EXIN Times sources, Odisha is losing as many as 30 crore annually and 4,000 cubic meter sand daily as 12 sand mafia groups have been lifting sand from 14 spots using 300 tractors and 200 trucks. Following the smuggling, West Midnapore and Balasore distric administrations are at loggerheads for years.