MARGAO, April 5 -- Despite numerous complaints and legal actions to halt it, illegal sand extraction in Chandor persists, causing environmental damage to riverbanks and streams. Exclusive videos obtained by O Heraldo depict canoes being filled with sand in Chandor and unloaded in Assolda, exposing a brazen disregard for law enforcement and environmental regulations. The unchecked extraction poses irreversible harm to the region's biodiversity.

The extracted sand is subsequently loaded into tipper trucks and sold to buyers, depriving the government of revenue and exacerbating environmental hazards like soil erosion and habitat loss. Activists from the River Sand Protection Network have repeatedly voiced concerns over illegal sand extracti...