Panaji, Aug 6 (IANS): The Goa mines department Tuesday arrested 13 people after raiding an illegal sand mining operation in a village, an official said.
The raid was conducted at Amona, a riverside village, 20 km from here, which is a hub of illegal sand mining, carried out on a massive scale in the state, a state government official said.
The raids come at a time when the suspension of Indian Administrative Service officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, who cracked down on sand mafia extracting sand illegally from rivers beds in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Budh Nagar, has triggered a nationwide debate on measures needed to be taken to tackle the problem.