The Thiruvananthapuram Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau on Monday launched a statewide surprise inspection campaign titled ‘Operation Earth Guard’ in the wake of intelligence inputs on widespread irregularities, violations and corruption in excavation and regular earth moving across the state, officials said.
According to VACB, the operation was initiated on the directions of Vigilance Director Manoj Abraham and began at 10.30 am across Kerala.
Based on intelligence inputs, VACB teams conducted simultaneous inspections at all 14 provincial mining and geology offices, 58 selected local self-government institutions, and various sites where illegal soil removal operations were reported, officials said.
In all, raids are being carried out at 72 offices and multiple locations across the state as part of the operation.
VACB officials said permits and transit passes obtained for soil removal under the guise of commercial construction and house building activities were allegedly being misused.
In many cases, soil is excavated and transported beyond the permissible limits and in quantities exceeding the permissible size.
The agency also received information that hills and hills are being illegally leveled, altering the landscape, and that excavated soil is being diverted for real estate purposes, officials said.
“Preliminary findings point to alleged collusion between certain officials from the Department of Mining and Geology and local self-government institutions. These officials are suspected of having issued permits and transit permits in violation of standards in exchange for bribes or other considerations,” the VACB statement said.
The vigilance investigation also pointed out the role of middlemen and organized ‘soil mafia’ groups in facilitating and monitoring illegal mining and transportation activities, officials said.
Likewise, mineral transit permits issued for construction purposes and development permits granted by local bodies are widely misused in illegal transportation of soil, the VACB statement said.
They added that enforcement officials were accused of deliberately avoiding inspections and failing to initiate follow-up actions, resulting in significant loss of revenue to the government in the form of unpaid royalties.
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