Ship bid to smuggle sand impounded
By chennaivision at 3 July, 2009, 1:20 pm
Nagapattinam, Cargo ship Asian Express, which allegedly attempted to smuggle about 3,200 tonnes of sand on a large scale from Colleron area in Nagapattinam district to Maldives via Karaikal in Puducherry, had been impounded at Karaikal Port.
Official sources said here today the ship that came to Karaikal a few days ago, had berthed in the port when sand loads from Coleroon were reportedly smuggled to Karaikal and loaded on to the ship.
On information Mr Munianathan, Mayiladuthurai sub-collector Ajay Yadav and Customs officials rushed to Karaikal and held talks with Karaikal District Collector N Vasanthakumar. The officials then inspected the ship at the Port and found about 3,200 tonnes of sand inside. They impounded the vessel.
The sand distributed by the sand quarries run by Public Works Department(PWD) is meant for use only within the State. The district administration had intensified patrolling to check the sand smuggling activity.
Tamil Nadu Government had earlier banned the transit of sand to other states or countries.
The vessel was loaded with sand at Puducherry and not in any part of Tamil Nadu, as the sand loaded in the vessel was fetched from the Coleroon in Tamil Nadu and the district administration holds the right to seize it. It will be disposed through open auctioning, after completing the formalities. The Collector had written to the authorities concerned on the issue, the sources added.
The Customs authories confirmed that they would allow the vessel to proceed further after unloading illegal sand.
Meanwhile, Karaikal Union Territory Struggle Group(KUTSG) a no-political organisation, had urged a CBI enquiry into the whole episode.
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