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Illicit sand mining uncovered in Galewela district
View(s):A large scale illegal sand mining racket carried out in the Galewela district has been uncovered. Acting on a tip off last week, the Divisional Secretary M. U. Nishantha, along with a group of journalists and grama niladhari officers, set out to the suspected site, the banks of a canal that runs from Dewahuwa to Kala Wewa,to find the suspects had fled in an apparent hurry leaving behind their tools.
They found a 15-foot deep excavated site causing severe erosion, with trees and other vegetation on the canal bank on the verge of being washed into the canal. The mining equipment was handed over to the Galewela Police, and the divisional secretary has informed Matale’s Senior Police Superintendent, Matale’s District Secretary and Dambulla’s STF Commanding officer of the racket.
Vowing to round up the suspects soon, the Galewela devisional secretary said that he had previously seized a tractor transporting sand from this site but the illegal operation had continued. Pix and text by M. Buhardeen
The Divisional Secretary and a Grama Niladhari at the site with the mining tools left behind by the suspects