Mr BK Handique Indian minister of mines and development of North Eastern Region said that some instances of illegal mining of sand has come to notice of Government. Since sand is a minor mineral for which all powers of regulation are empowered to the State Governments concerned the respective state governments are required to frame policy and rules for sand mining.

He said that in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha that as per available information in respect of Maharashtra, in the last 3 months action has been taken against 4672 cases and penalty of INR 50,012,672 has been recovered from persons responsible for unauthorized sand mining. Further criminal cases have also been registered against 61 cases and 349 vehicles have been seized.

The state government of Maharashtra has formulated a revised policy for excavation of sand vides Government Resolution.