A new trade in sand mining has begun in Daltonganj. Although it is low key and of mini scale nevertheless the sand mining goes on openly in the town. 

The modus operandi is simple. Four labourers pull their wooden hand cart on the bank of the river Koel. 

The wooden cart is parked and the 4 just go into the knee deep river the Koel. There the 4 dig the sand with bare hands. The dug up sand is then packed in the empty cement bag. Half bag is only filled with sand. Each such bag is sold for 10 to 12 rupees. 

One wooden hand cart carries 24 to 26 sand filled bags. It is then wheeled by 2 of the 4 labourers. One from the front and the other from the rear. This sand is not sold like any other items which are sold here on wooden hand carts like fruits, ready made garments, shoes, vegetables etc. 

The sand reaches the destination (read construction site)  straightway where 24 or 26 sand bags are sold at the rate of rupees 10 or 12 each.  

The town police know it well as to how a new technique has been evolved for sand mining. Unscrupulous cops are greased by these sand diggers. As sandbags are water soaked the wooden hand cart gets heavily loaded. 

One sand digger said "Each of 4 earns 400 to 500 hundred rupees a day. Our job is too hard. Digging sand by hand and then packing it in the cement bag is very tiring work but we do as there is no other option."

"We do not annoy the police. We give them money otherwise they will deflate the tyres of the wheels of the cart which is driven manually." said the digger. 

On being asked if the wooden hand driven cart is theirs to which this sand digger said "We hire it on a daily basis for rupees 100 from 8 in the morning till 4 in the evening. The wear and tear of the cart is our responsibility."

The flash point of such sand mining is at the Chitragupt Mandir NawaToli Daltonganj. The local residents do not object to it.