Many booked for illegal excavation of sand, gravel

MANSEHRA: The tehsil administration of Baffa-Pakhal on Friday booked many tractor-trolley drivers and labourers excavating sand and gravel illegally from Siran River.

“We have banned excavation of sands and gravel from rivers passing through our tehsil and those found involved in breach of law have been booked under the relevant sections of the law,” Novaria Farooq, the assistant commissioner, told reporters.

A joint team of police, the Irrigation department and tehsil municipal administration led by Farooq unloaded tractor-trolleys filled with sand and gravel and drivers and those digging riverbeds were booked. “The central bridge in Inayatabad, which links Baffa with the rest of the district, is under threat of being collapsed because of the excavation of the sand and gravel from its Riverbed,” she said.