Widespread malpractices, including illegal soil mining, misuse of permits and alleged corruption involving officials, have been uncovered in Statewide inspections launched by the Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau (VACB) in Kerala on Monday.
The drive, titled ‘Operation Earth Guard’, found that permits and transit passes issued for house-building purposes are being systematically misused to extract and transport soil far beyond permissible limits. Preliminary findings also indicate that hills and elevated land are being levelled to alter the natural landscape for real estate purposes.