A group of residents residing in the bank of river Budhabalanga, besides alleging that sand mafias were active despite administrative restrictions, demanded strong action against them.
The residents belonging to riverside villages including Kantabania, Dahapada, Gambharia, Kasaba and Fuladi headed by local leader Ranjan Pradhan submitted a memorandum to Additional District Magistrate Sambit Nayak, demanding his urgent intervention.
In their petition, they said that rampant sand lifting from the river bed had been going on unabated despite restrictions under Section 144 CrPC.
They mentioned that mindless stealing of sand from the riverbeds had posed a serious threat to the environment. Besides bank erosion, due to sand lifting, several huge craters had formed posing a threat to their mud houses.