BHOPAL: Excessive and rampant sand mining has threatened the very existence of Ken river in Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh . After declining level of water in the river, the mafia has turned the water flow and built temporary bridge- almost 20 meters long- across the river to facilitate mining and transportation of the mineral.The district administration broke twice a temporary bridge constructed by the mafia on a shallow portion of the river in Panna. Now it has started a 24X7 vigil to ensure that the bridge is not built again. The bridge was demolished was last week on March 19 near Bira sand mine in Ajaygarh tehsil.The sub divisional magistrate (SDM) Ajaygarh Arushi Jain told TOI, "we have posted a patwari and secretary of the panchayat to keep a vigil and inform us if any activity of construction of bridge takes place."She said, "we restored the flow of the river by breaking the temporary bridge that had obstructed the flow at Bira mine area . There is no licence to mine sand in Bira sand mine."Jain was accompanied by officials of revenue department and police when the bridge was broken. Heavy earth moving machineries were deployed to remove a large quantity of clay and wooden logs.She said the action was initiated after instructions from the district collector.This is not for the first time that sand mafia built bridge on ken river. Two years back, the sand mafia had built a bridge at a strategic location between Chattarpur and Panna to facilitate the mining operations and transportation of the mineral.The bridge on the river built in 2017 was almost 50 meters long, district administration sources in Panna recalled.The 427 km long river originates from Katni district neighbouring Panna and falls in Yamuna river at Chilla village in Banda district of Uttar Pradesh.Illegal sand mining by armed mafia takes place across the length of the river in Ken in Panna and Chattarpur districts.

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