Destruction of fertile lands and River beds by indiscriminate mining of sand for construction purposes

[nlok...@gmail.com]

In Tamil Nadu , a state in India, there is indiscriminate mining of
river sand for building construction purposes, goes on unabated both
with Government's approval and without approvals. A thriving business
is being carried out by vested interests who make millions of rupees
in this business.

River sand is a very important ingredient in the building construction
along with cement and bricks. As the sand is mined out or rather
collected from the river beds and shores the rights are being
authorized by the Government through a process of tender and the
bidder usually collects the sand from the allotted river and sells
them to builders and other contractors.These sites were leased out to
the successful bidder and he enjoyed the right to quarry or mine sand
there for a fixed time.

Some years back the Government had changed this system and all the
sand was to be quarried by the Government agencies only and would be
given to others. The problem is that the sand gets accumulated
through years of water flow and gets deposited on the river beds and
shores and when the sands are removed the river banks get affected and
the net result is the embankment or the shores of the river get
destroyed, resulting in the flooding of the low lying ares around the
river banks, inundating the fields and dwellings of the villages.

Also this results in the erosion of the river bed and leads to the
loss of sand and also the destruction or the death of the river
itself. Many a rivers are now without any water as the result of the
destruction of the forests and the catchment areas of these rivers by
man made destructions. As the sand business is a lucrative business
and results in very high income many unscrupulous elements indulge in
over exploitation and also in running illegal quarries. When spotted
or caught these people even kill the Government officials who try to
thwart their action, by mowing them down with their heavily loaded
lorries. Most of these criminal go scot free as there is no full
pledged effort to catch and arrest them as the money is huge to
forgo.Also our courts take their own sweet time to punish these
thieves and criminals.

Unlike there is concerted effort from both people and Government this
will go for ever. A good news is that many villagers are now coming
forward to fight and protest against this sand mafias. Instances have
come in which the villagers catching these people who do illegal
mining and their vehicles and handing them over to the Government
officials for further penal action.