Sand bandits rampant, Lam River alluvial land at risk of being 'swallowed'

(Baonghean.vn) - Dozens of large and small boats illegally dredge sand in the middle of Lam River, causing public outrage because thousands of cubic meters of sand are being illegally dredged.²sugarcane and crops were washed down the river.

Watch dozens of motorboats brazenly sucking sand and gravel in the middle of Lam River:

Recently, in the Lam River area through Linh Son commune, Anh Son district, illegal sand and gravel mining has been happening regularly and is becoming more and more rampant, causing serious landslides and damage to many sugarcane areas on the alluvial land, making people very upset.

Illegal sand mining is increasingly rampant on the Lam River. Photo: Tue Minh

Mr. Ha Hong Hoi, village 4, Linh Son commune said: "For the past two years, due to the illegal sand mining, the Lam river bank has been eroded a lot. My family has 3 sao of sugarcane land, but now nearly 100m of land has been washed away."². The whole family lives on farming, so it's very sad. At this rate, we will gradually lose all our land for production."

Many sugarcane fields have now collapsed into the Lam River due to illegal sand mining. Photo: Minh Quan

Mr. Ha Phi Khanh - Secretary of Village 4, Linh Son Commune was indignant.: each day a suction boat from four to six trips, many boatsMiners exploit day and night, they brazenly put the hose close to the bank to suck, causing the water to flow rapidly, causing subsidence and landslides of the people's land. The riverside area where people grow sugarcane in the village has been eroded up to 3 to 4 meters high, many sections have eroded 10 to 12 meters deep into the bank, some sections have eroded 20 meters, up to now, the total area of ​​eroded land in the village is estimated to be 3 hectares.

On the banks of Lam River, landslides are occurring seriously. Photo: Minh Quan

Mr. Pham Van Quy - Chairman of Linh Son Commune People's Committee said: Up to now, we estimate that about 4 hectares of people's crop land have been eroded and washed away due to sand and gravel mining concentrated in hamlets 4 and 5. Although the locality has reported to the district many times, the district has organized inspection teams, but after that, the situation of indiscriminate sand and gravel mining has returned to normal. According to Mr. Quy, the subjects of dredging sand and gravel from the riverbed are 7-8 households from Tao Son commune to Linh Son area.

Faced with the increasingly widespread and noisy sand bandits in the past 15 days, the Linh Son commune government and the people have come up with a plan to fight against "sand bandits" by establishing an anti-sand bandit team, with 3 people on duty each shift, including 1 village police officer, 1 village team leader and 1 commune official. If there are illegal sand mining boats, the team will come out to chase them away, but it is still ineffective./.

Minh Quan - Tue Minh