Sand smuggling is not stopping in Pindrajora police station area. Police administration is continuously conducting raids after receiving information. Many tractors and JCBs are being confiscated, but there is failure in curbing the sand mafia. After the raid, the smuggling case comes to a halt for a week. After this, the sand mafia again gets involved in smuggling at the same pace. From the sub-divisional office to many police stations of Chas, tractors filled with sand have been seized by the mining department and administration. Dozens of tractors of sand are being smuggled daily from Jala Ijri River, Chitami Ijri River, Seemabad, Pindrajora Gwai River of the area.
Eight tractors and one JCB seized
Pindrajora police seized two tractors in the month of February 2022 and one tractor each in June, July and September respectively and registered a case. A tractor was seized in February 2023. On December 21, Chas Circle Officer and Pindrajora police station in-charge seized a JCB and two tractors and registered a case against the vehicle owner and drivers. Despite the seizure of a total of eight tractors and one JCB, the morale of the sand mafia is high.
Smuggling is being done by washing sand.
According to the villagers, sand was being washed and smuggled. The villagers of Chakulia had also submitted a written letter to the Bokaro Deputy Commissioner regarding the dirty water in the river. Villagers say that due to digging of sand by JCB in the river from Jala Ijri river ghat to Chitami and Bhandardih sand ghat, potholes of about 20 feet have been created at many places. A major incident can happen at any time. People are not able to bathe in the river due to dirty water. On November 11, during the inspection of Diwanganj Ijari Chhath Ghat regarding Chhath Puja, JMM central member Santosh Rajwar had told Pindrajora police station in-charge Deepak Kumar Sah that smugglers are polluting the river water by washing sand and smuggling it. After the information, the police conducted a raid and the smuggling of sand was stopped for about a week.