Villagers protest against sand mining in Dundubhi River

Mahbubnagar: Opposing the decision of Jadcherla mandal Tahsildar and the district authorities allowing sand mining from Dundubhi River, which flows near Nekkonda, Ammapally and Bairampally villages, people of these villages staged a protest near the river bed on Monday and raised slogans against the officials for granting permission for sand mining in their area.

More than 300 farmers, who sat in protest, demanded immediate retrieval of the decision. If not, they threatened to stop any vehicle coming to their village for filling sand. They alleged that the district administration has taken unilateral decision without consulting them for sand mining from their villages. All bore wells will get recharged with the river water, but now the Tahsildar's decision will lead to a fall in ground water levels, which will dry up bore wells in the villages, they lamented.

It should be reminded here that Jadcherla Tahsildar Lakshminarayana informed the villagers recently that the government had selected Dundubhi River for supplying sand for the construction of double bedroom houses. The villagers opposed the proposal, stating that this will have an adverse impact on their farming activities. The farmers of all these three villages are cultivating various crops in about 3,000 acres.

In this Rabi season alone, the farmers cultivated paddy in over 1,000 acres and yielded a bumper harvest.

However, the officials said they will follow the government's decision and will try to convince the villagers by ensuring them that sand mining will not disturb farming activity in the villages.