#sand-mining

Kozhikode: Against the backdrop of the attack on Kozhikode District Collector K V Mohan Kumar last saturday, allegedly by sand mafia, the District Administration has decided to act tough against them. A meeting of police, motor vehicle departments and revenue officials yesterday had also decided to implement several measures to regulate illegal sand mining,sources said. It was also decided to form new squads to patrol areas susceptible to illegal sand mining throughout the district and also to revamp the existing squads. Four squads, three at the taluk level and one at the district level, have been formed to check the smuggling. Each squad will have five policemen. Beneficiaries of sand smuggling and also the middlemen would not be spared, sources said. Patrol boats would be launched to act against mining conducted through boats. Mohan had a narrow escape when the crew of a tipper-truck carrying illegally mined river sand abruptly tumbled a huge pile of sand in the way of the car in which he and other officials were chasing the vehicle. The truck sped away after the incident. Two people involved in the incident had already been arrested.

Source: manoramaonline.com

Kozhikode district collector and convoy targeted by sand miners on two occasions.

The sheer audacity with which some illegal river sand miners dared the Kozhikode district administration early on Saturday morning, challenging a team led by the district collector, has shocked the state and called for stringent action to crack down against violators of the law. Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran brought the matter into the political limelight on Sunday, citing how different mafia gangs were tightening their grip on the state. Sudheeran said it was unfortunate that a situation prevailed where the land mafia, sand mafia and liquor mafia were had exercised a tight grip on the state. Sudheeran said the administrative mechanisms to control such mafia appeared to be failing and that the attack of the sand mafia against the Kozhikode district collector was an example of the dire situation. Kozhikode district collector K.V. Mohankumar was targeted by sand miners on two occasions on Saturday morning at 3.30am and 4.30am when he was leading a squad of police and revenue officials to check sand smuggling at Feroke in the city outskirts. In the first incident, the miners trapped the collector in a narrow lane near Kandikulam with their tipper lorry and dumped the smuggled sand in front of the collector’s car, blocking his path. Lorry detained In the second incident, which happened an hour later, a motorbike blocked the collector’s convoy while they were chasing a lorry. The number plate of the bike was faded and the bike sped away. The district officials felt the gang could have been armed. In follow-up action by the police, one lorry has been detained and investigation is on. The surprise raid at night by a team led by the collector was undertaken following complaints that the sand mafia had been mining and smuggling sand from the Kadalundi river in collusion with some government officials. Home minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan said stringent action will be taken against the culprits. Kerala’s construction sector has boomed over the past decade, making river sand a virtual treasure for construction. This, in turn, has attracted armed gangs into illegal mining of sand from river frontages.

Source: Gulfnews.com

The battle against the powerful sand mafia in the environmentally fragile Kerala took an alarming turn on Saturday as they attacked the Calicut district collector K V Mohankumar. The gang engaged in illegal sand mining at Cheruvannur area in the district dumped a lorry full of sand on the private vehicle in which the senior official had gone for a raid along with a team of revenue officials at around 3 am. The collector escaped unhurt narrowly as the driver drove the car back. The head of the district administration had led a secret operation to apprehend the mafia following complaints he received about illegal sand mining going on in the area. The police have identified the owner of the tipper lorry involved in the attack but they could not apprehend the assailants, who escaped after blocking the revenue team. A high level police team have launched an extensive hunt for them. The district collector told reporters after the attack that illegal sand mining was going on in the area for a long time. He said that the operation against the sand mafia would continue until the illegal activity is fully stopped. The attack on the collector comes less than a month after the intelligence wing warned about the law and order issues posed by the growing muscle power of the sand mafia. The report submitted to the police chief had said that the sand mafia was gaining clout by forging links with police officials and politicians. The intelligence chief had warned that this nexus had emboldened the mafia to the extent of attacking officials and activists opposing illegal sand mining. The report was submitted in the wake of an attempt made recently by the mafia to murder Quilon City Police Commissioner Debesh Kumar Behera by mowing him down with a truck. The report also named 56 officials, who have proven links with the mafia. This included several senior police officials, including a superintendent of police. The report had recommended immediate removal of these officials from their charges and stringent action against them in order to restore the credibility of the force. Several officials in various parts of the state have come under the attack of sand mafia in the last few years. They killed a police constable in Quilon district a couple of months ago and attempted to crush to death two police officers in Ernakulam district in March this year. In Trivandrum district, a team of policemen trying to nab illegal sand miners were attacked with high- power explosives, from which the former had a narrow escape. The police eluded the bombs by a whisker and managed to nab two of the 15 assailants. The illegal sand mining has been thriving in the state after mining was regulated after the enactment of the Kerala River Bank Protection and Sand Mining Regulation Act 2001. The indiscriminate removal of sand from the beds of rivers has transformed many major rivers such as Pampa, Periyar, Bharathapuzha, Manimala etc. into dry lands.

Source: Khaleej Times

Sand being quarried beside Tungabhadra bridge in Kurnool

Following an uproar on over-exploitation of river sand in Andhra Pradesh, the state government Sunday announced a new policy banning inter-state sand transport. Acting on court orders, the government formulated the policy under which sand reaches would be allotted for mining through draw of lots. The policy has also banned the use of poclains on river beds and fixed sand price at Rs 325 per cubic metre. Minister for Mines and Geology Galla Aruna Kumari told reporters Sunday that the new sand quarrying policy was prepared keeping in the mind observations made by the courts and concerns of affected people. The policy is expected to ease the shortage of sand, which has badly affected the construction industry in the state. The minister said the government, if necessary, would treat sand as an essential commodity. Under the policy, formulated on the recommendations of a seven-member cabinet sub-committee headed by the minister, sand would be supplied free of cost for the Indiramma housing scheme for the weaker sections of society. Priority would also be given to meet requirements of concerned sand mining areas. The minister said the entire money earned by the government through royalty would be deposited in the accounts of concerned zilla parishads. The mining department would also take steps to promote use of rock sand. The minister said the policy would also apply to those already quarrying the sand. She warned that if anyone was found violating the regulations, the department would cancel the mining license and seize the machinery. The Andhra Pradesh High Court in March had stayed sand mining and auction of sand reaches in the state. The Supreme Court had also rejected the state's petition to vacate the lower court's order. The state government subsequently approached the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority of the union Ministry of Environment and Forests, which granted permission for mining in 36 sand reaches in four rivers. Some people had moved the high court, alleging that there was a strong contractor-politician-bureaucrat nexus in sand mining, and that mine lease holders were violating rules and regulations. Some environmentalists too had gone to the court, contending that over-exploitation of river sand was creating environmental imbalance. They argued that the sand mining should not cause water and sound pollution and that the government should not allow quarrying in the absence of Environmental Impact Assessment. Andhra Pradesh has 47 major sand reaches and needs an estimated two crore cubic metres of sand a year. The court stay on sand mining had hit hard the construction industry with the price shooting up from Rs 500 a tonne to Rs 3,000 a tonne.

A day after Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa announced various measures to ensure adequate and smooth supply of sand for construction works, 21 new sand quarries have been identified by the government on the Cauvery river, near Tiruchy and Karur. This follows closure of 27 quarries in the river as per the order of the Madurai Bench of Chennai High Court. PWD Minister  K V Ramalingam, speaking to Express on the sidelines of a function here recalled that the HC had ordered closure of quarries that are over 5 years old. To avoid sand shortage and check the rise in price of sand, the government has identified new quarries, he said. After getting permission from the environment ministry, the government will issue orders for them to start functioning. The Chief Minister  is keen to check the rise in price of sand and ensure adequate supply, he added. Jayalalithaa on Saturday announced measures on Saturday after chairing a meeting of senior ministers and top officials in Chennai. The Chief Minister had  said that all departments concerned and the District Collectors should ensure sand mining was done without affecting the environment. To avoid shortage of sand, new quarries should be identified immediately and take steps for getting the approval of the State Environment ImpactAssessment Authority, she had said. Only in Tamil Nadu , the river sand quarries are under government control. In other states, they are in private sector.

FRUSTRATING WAIT: Sand lorries waiting off the Tiruchi-Chennai Bypass Road for being sent to the quarry for loading. Sand loading has come down by 70 per cent in the district Sand price has gone up steeply in Tiruchi following the closure of six quarries in the district as per the directive of the Madras High Court. Of the 11 quarries that were functioning on the Cauvery and Coleroon rivers in the district, four quarries which were more than five years old, have been closed. Public Works Department has decided to close two others too in order to certain seek legal clarifications. Currently quarries are functioning only at Kondayampettai and Killikoodu on the Coleroon river and at Manamedu, Avoor and Sirugamani on the Cauvery river in the district. With all seven quarries in neighbouring Karur district too closed, there has been a heavy rush of lorries at the quarries that are currently functional here. According to sources in the PWD, sand loading has come down by 70 per cent from the normal loading of about 4,000 lorries a day in the district. With hundreds of lorries from Coimbatore, Salem, Tirupur and Erode, apart from Tiruchi, converging here, long queues are witnessed near the quarries and the highways. A large number of lorries from other districts could be seen parked on a huge ground near Ariyamangalam along the Tiruchi-Chennai Bypass Road and sent on queue from there. Many of these lorries were also parked along the service lanes of the bypass road causing traffic congestion. Local sand lorry operators complain of prolonged waiting time at the quarries. “Normally local lorries used to get at least one load a day; now most of the lorries are waiting for two to three days to get loaded leading to a sharp rise in our operational cost. We have no option but to pass on the burden to the consumer,” said an office bearer of Tiruchi District Sand Lorry Owners Association. As on Wednesday, four units of sand were being sold at Rs.7,000 in Tiruchi. Till Saturday, the same quantity was sold at Rs.4,500, he said. The government rate at the quarries is just Rs.624 for two units of sand. The average demand in the district is around 1,500 lorries every day. But currently, just about 500 lorry loads are available. Sand lorry operators in the district demand that local lorries be accorded priority at the sand quarries. Builders say that the sharp rise in the price was slowing down construction activity across the district. “The steep increase in the price of sand will definitely impact on the construction industry, which has to make provisions for an increase in construction cost. The problem should be sorted out and additional quarries should be opened,” says T.V.Murali, vice president, Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI), Tiruchi, and chairman of CII, Tiruchi zone. PWD sources indicated that steps were afoot to get the environment clearance to open up a few quarries in line with the court orders.

The dry Cauvery river bed in Tiruchi.

Dwindling population of two living microscopic organisms is the main reason Even as the Cauvery delta eco-system gets degraded, the future looks extremely painful as far as drinking water is concerned. One of the major aspects of the degradation is the dwindling population of two living organisms, which play a crucial role in potability of water, says Prof.K.V.Krishnamurthy, former head of department of botany, Bharathidasan University. Two microscopic organisms — phytoplankton and zooplankton – that eat decaying organic materials help the pH value of water. Water could be deemed acidic or alkaline depending upon this value and potability is determined by this, he adds. It is in the case of drinking water that civic associations like the Exnora International are worried. Its advisor V.Ganapathi points out that exploitation of groundwater along the banks of the Cauvery and the Coleroon has become very high. “From 50 feet to 60 feet depth, even on the banks of the rivers, the depth of the bore wells has now touched 100 feet. This type of exploitation of aquifers, especially when there are no flows at all, is not sustainable,” he asserts. Above all, the total quantity of water flowing in the rivers itself has come down. The Cauvery, which has seen more than 300 thousand million cubic ft (tmcft) during certain years, is now struggling to get 205 tmcft prescribed by the Cauvery River Disputes Tribunal. “It is quite unlikely that we are going to get even that much of water this year,” he observes. Besides, the flow in the rivers year-round has become a thing of the past. “Thus the quality of water will soon start going down. And potability is going to be a very big problem,” he laments. The Coleroon (flowing from Upper Anicut up to Kollidam - about 180 km), which has been the flood carrier, has deeper aquifers than the Cauvery. Thanks to over-exploitation of these aquifers, this water is not as potable as it used to be, he says. S.Balachandran, Deputy Director, Bombay Natural History Society, points out that birds are the indicators of the health of the ecosystem. “If huge wetlands were to dry up due to the loss of inflows in the Cauvery\Coleroon it will have severe impact on the natural ecosystem,” he asserts. While natural bird sanctuaries like Point Calimere are on the coastline, they have either sea water or brackish water. The Cauvery is the only fresh water source in the neighbouring areas. If neighbouring areas are cultivated, birds use these fields for roosting, nesting and feeding. Apart from the local bird population, migratory birds use these wetlands. For these birds, the wetlands are sort of a buffer zone. And they collect food from some other places. “If drought persists till October, migratory birds might shun these fields,” he cautions. He admits that Point Calimere bird sanctuary might get affected and other sanctuaries, including Karaivetti, Vaduvur (both used by the migratory birds for roosting), Udhayamarthandapuram and Kallaperumbalur, which are inland sanctuaries, would also suffer seriously. As sand is indispensable for retaining the capacity of the river to hold water, social activists led by advocate R.Nandakumar have sought a ban on sand quarrying in the Cauvery and the Kollidam river from Karur to Nagapattinam. According to Mr.Nandakumar, not only illegal quarrying of sand is taking place in Tamil Nadu but also illegal sand quarries have been set up. The quarries functioning in the Cauvery are more than five hectares. “It is not only hidden from the eyes of the public but also from the eyes of the court,” he alleges.

Conservation efforts at the nascent Kawal Tiger Reserve (KTR) in Adilabad district have received a fillip thanks to almost all tribal grama sabhas endorsing demarcation of the buffer area enveloping it. This development is complementary to the complete control gained on illegal sand mining from streams within the Reserve. Grama sabhas were held between August 7 and 9 in all the gram panchayats falling within the proposed buffer area of 1,123 sq km. Barring one grama sabha under Mangi in Tiryani mandal, tribal people approved of the proposal. The other big achievement of the Forest Department staff in terms of conservation at KTR is the stopping of sand mining from its streams. It took almost nine months for the Forest authorities to get sand suppliers to discontinue their practice. “More important than the loss of sand from the streams is the stopping of disturbance in the forests. As no tractor runs in the Kawal forests now, the wildlife here can exist in peace,” said Jannaram Divisional Forest Officer B. Rama Krishna Rao, as he went over the subject of achievement. Fresh sand deposits can now be seen in all the streams that were the subject of illegal mining since the last decade or so. The Rampur stream, the stream between Birsaipet and Alampalli, the Udumpur stream, the Dostnagar stream, all have sand deposited on their beds for the first time in many years. “We began with convincing local political leaders and sand businessmen of the need for conservation in the KTR and use of sand from quarries in Godavari river to fulfil local needs. Preventive measures included establishment of base camps and special parties to check illegal mining,” the DFO said . “This season onwards, seepage of water from the sand-filled rivers and streams will be on a higher scale. The lifting of groundwater levels will have a positive impact on availability of fodder and water for wild animals even in summer months,” he adds.