The people from Sarapara Karipara village of East Goalpara in lower Assam on Friday night captured at least three dumpers illegally carrying overloaded sand from river Domoni of Goalpara to the Kamrup district.
The locals caught the dumpers on the Daranggiri-Nandeswar Road and later handed over the same to the forest department.
The villagers alleged that the dumpers with the registration numbers AS01-KC- 0739, AS01-KC-6137 and AS01-KC-6512 were carrying sand more than the permissible amount through a road which is not meant to be used by heavy commercial vehicles.
Also read: Assam: Forest dept seizes 10 overloaded dumpers at Goalpara
The forest officials of Rongjuli range later arrived at the spot and took control of the vehicles. However, they did not seize the dumpers citing that they had valid documents.
At this point, the people had a heated exchange with B. Das, ranger of Rongjuli range forest.
The villagers also demanded reply from the forest officer as well as the police who also arrived as to why illegal transmission of sand, timbers take place at night which is severely damaging their road.
“As per the PWD approved weight, a commercial truck can only carry nine tons of load in this road which has been displayed on board whereas these commercial vehicles carry fifteen to twenty tons, which is illegal and severely damaging our road,” remarked a youth, who was present at the spot.
The villagers also alleged: “This is a part of sand syndicate involved in carrying sands from the Domoni river of Matia in East Goalpara to different places of Guwahati city.”
Meanwhile, the forest department released the dumpers on Saturday.
It is pertinent to mention that the bridge No. 34/1 of NH-37 over Krishnai river faced a crack in 2018 year and the PWD through an order diverted all the vehicles to take the Matia-Dudhnoi Road of State highway-46 which is an adjacent road to the Daranggiri- Nandeswar Road.
Of late, due to an ongoing construction of bridge of the state highway 46 and inundation of a subway, the vehicles are diverted through the Matia-Nandeswar Road which is causing damage to the road.
Photo : The three dumpers on Friday night blocked by the public.