April 29: Vigilance and enforcement officials seized six earth moving machines, 26 lorries and eight tractors used for excavation of sand illegally from the sand reaches of the Pennar river near Jonnawada in Buchireddyp-alem mandal and Pothireddypalem in Kovur mandal during surprise raids on Thursday. According to Mr K.V. Mohan Rao, superintendent of police, V&E, the teams involved in the raids noticed gross violations, contrary to the lease agreement and Walta (water, land and trees) Act. The leaseholder at the Jonnawada reach was found digging sand beyond the area allotted to him and also close to the bund against the rules, thus causing danger to the bund safety. While sand quarrying is allowed only up to one-meter depth, leaseholders had gone upto a depth of 3 to 5 meters using earth-moving machi-nes, which was also against the rules. This would lead to depletion of groundwater levels.V&E officials have been taking measurements of the pits to quantify the amount of illegal quarrying in cubic meters to levy penalty. They conducted an inq-uest in the presence of mining officials and are gearing up to submit a report to the district authorities through the mines and geology department. They are also going to recommend cancellation of the lease. Meanwhile, it has become a practice for leaseholders of sand reaches to violate all rules and this was exposed during similar raids by the V&E wing in November last year. Mining as well as revenue officials who have powers to curb illegal quarrying simply turn a blind eye, even as peoples