While the controversy over the suspension of IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal — who took on the sand mafia in Greater Noida — still brews, Noida police continue the crackdown in her absence. In the last two days alone, the Noida police have arrested 15 people and seized 24 vehicles in raids across the region. While police asserted that the raids would continue, sources admitted that the the prevalence of sand mining in Noida was far too great to effect a total clampdown. Senior Noida police officers stated that in six police stations across Gautam Buddh Nagar district, police arrested 15 people and seized 24 vehicles in the last two days. The police stations include those in Phase 2, Sectors 20, 39 — where the most vehicles were seized — and 24, 58, 49 — which recorded the highest arrests at seven. Despite the continuing crackdown, sources admit that it would require a greater effort to choke the illegal sand mining mafia in the region. The major illegal mining belts include lands that line the Yamuna, Ganga and Hindon rivers in Noida, Greater Noida and even Ghaziabad. Police sources and district authorities also maintained that the mafia was largely disorganised and included a number of small and medium players across the region. A senior Noida official stated that it was just after monsoons that the sand available through illegal means was in demand. “When the rivers swell, the authorities make sand mining illegal. However, construction demands are so huge that supply cannot be stopped under any circumstances. The mafia hoards sand in vast tracts of land in the area and sells them during the monsoon months,” he said. Sources asserted that a truck-load of sand during these months could cost anywhere between Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 depending on the supplier. “There is no single ‘mafia’ that operates here. While some land owners do supply the most sand, smaller farmers — with as little as half a bigha of land — turn sand suppliers. For many, it is a source of alternate income,” a senior official said. He added that for farmers involved in such operations, the river deposited silt back onto their land in the following monsoon. According to sources, the Noida and Greater Noida authorities float tenders every year when water in the rivers recede. “Tenders are floated to lift sand from the river banks for sale to builders. This is the legal method of acquiring sand for construction. However in most cases, builders buy half the sand through this method and half from through illegal means as it is cost effective,” an official said. A truck-load of sand through the legal process can cost between Rs 18,000 and Rs 20,000. “The government rates are higher at a time when sand is easily available. But because authorities are more vigilant, many people split their sand requirements between the legal and illegal methods,” a source said. Such is its importance in the region that sand mined during the dry season is stored for sale during the monsoons. “For example, at present, there is little dry sand available and in Noida thousands of tonnes of sand is a daily requirement through the year. So sand is stored in the dry season and sold at premium rates,” an official said.