Sand Mining

In News

The Bihar government banned sand mining and sand digging near or around river bridges in a move to check illegal sand mining that threatens bridges in the rivers.

About

• The state road construction department on March 10, 2021, issued an order banning sand mining around bridges in rivers and those under construction across the state.
• The activity will be banned around bridges 500 metres up and downstream.
  • Most complaints were reported in rivers flowing in south Bihar, including Falgu, Panchane, Sakri, Sone, Punpun, Badua, Chanan and Goithwa.

What is Sand mining?

• Sand mining is the process of extracting sand through an open pit but sometimes mined from inland dunes from oceans, riverbeds and beaches.
•  It is defined under section 3(e) of the mines and mineral development and regulation act,1957.

Usage

• The extracted sand can be used for various types of manufacturing, such as concrete used in the construction of buildings and other structures.
• The use of sand for cement-making in industrial projects has generated significant demand in India.
• The sand can also be used as an abrasive or can be mixed with salt and applied to icy roads to reduce the melting point of ice.

Concerns

• Sand mining damages the ecosystem of rivers and the safety of bridges, weakens riverbeds, destroys natural habitats of organisms living on riverbeds, affects fish breeding and migration, and increases saline water in the rivers
•  Lack of enforcement for sand-mining regulations and insufficient subsidy programs for affected communities detrimentally impact coastal welfare.
  • The sand mafia, a network of criminal syndicates that illegally mine sand, has proven especially destructive, with attempts to curtail their behaviour often leading to violent altercations.
• Beaches, dunes, and sandbanks act as barriers to flooding. When sand mining removes such barriers, areas near the sea or river become more prone to flooding.
• Sand mining destroys the aesthetic beauty of beaches and river banks, and also makes the ecological system in these areas unstable. If such beaches and riverside areas are popular tourist destinations, then the tourism potential of such areas will be lost.
• A recent study by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) shows mining is responsible for a 90 per cent drop in sediment levels in major Asian rivers, including the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Meghna, Mekong and Yangtze.
  • This has resulted in the shrinking of the delta regions of these rivers, leaving local people extremely vulnerable to floods, land loss, contaminated drinking water and crop damage.

Initiatives taken

• The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 has empowered state governments to make rules to prevent illegal mining, transportation and storage of minerals.
• The National Green Tribunal in 2020 constituted a fresh committee to probe the allegations of illegal sand mining being carried out using heavy machines in the Son river.
• The Enforcement and Monitoring Guidelines for Sand Mining 2020 released by the  Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change include directions to states to carry out river audits, put detailed survey reports of all mining areas online and in the public domain, conduct replenishment studies of river beds, constantly monitor mining with drones, aerial surveys, ground surveys and set up dedicated task forces at district levels.

Source :DTH