DVAC opens detailed inquiry into alleged sand-mining scam after Enforcement Directorate complaint

The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption has opened a detailed inquiry into alleged large-scale irregularities in river-sand mining across Tamil Nadu, acting on a complaint from the Enforcement Directorate that flagged serious violations in the way sand has been extracted from the state's rivers. The complaint, filed by the central agency, alleges systematic irregularities in sand mining — an industry where the gap between what the state sells on paper and what leaves the riverbed in trucks has long been the subject of court battles and political warfare. Sand in Tamil Nadu is sold through the Water Resources Department with online billing, but investigators have alleged that significant quantities move offline, off the books, and that taxes on the billed amounts never reach the treasury. The DVAC inquiry lands in the middle of a long-running confrontation between the Enforcement Directorate and the Tamil Nadu government over the same rivers. The ED's money-laundering probe into alleged illegal sand mining has already seen searches at dozens of locations, including premises linked to sand contractors and political figures. In November 2023, the Madras High Court stayed summons issued by the ED to five district collectors — of Vellore, Tiruchirapalli, Karur, Thanjavur and Ariyalur — while allowing the central agency's probe to continue. The Supreme Court later directed the collectors to appear before the agency, rebuking them for a "cavalier approach" to its summons. What is new is that the state's own anti-corruption machinery is now formally seized of the matter. A detailed inquiry is a step below a full investigation, but it obliges the DVAC to collect records, examine officials and report back — creating a paper trail within the state government over allegations that touch the DMK dispensation's watch over the rivers. The timing matters. Sand mining in Tamil Nadu is not an environmental footnote: stripped riverbeds have dried wells, destroyed farmland and redrawn the water map of districts. Whoever mined how much, and who looked the other way, is a question the state's farmers have been asking for years. The DVAC inquiry is a chance to answer it on the record — if it is allowed to run its course.