Sand mining set to resume in Kerala: District-level committees formed to tap into potential revenue of 1500 crores

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: District-level committees will be formed this week to resume sand removal in rivers in eight districts of the state. Sand auditing found that about one and three quarter crore metric tons of sand can be mined from these places. The government will get at least 1500 crores through this.

Auditing of 32 rivers has identified rivers with sand mining potential in Kollam, Thrissur, Malappuram, Palakkad, Kannur, Kasaragod, Pathanamthitta and Ernakulam districts. In this, sand mining will begin in March in Bharatapuzha, Kadalundi and Chaliyar rivers in Malappuram district. The expected revenue is 200 crores. There is no possibility of siltation in rivers of Kozhikode, Idukki and Kottayam districts.

The district level committees chaired by the collector will have environment, labor organization representatives and local body representatives as members. Under the Zilla Samithi, the Kadav Committees headed by the Chairman of the local bodies in relation to each of the rivers are responsible for auctioning the silt. Along with the protection of rivers, the sand shortage in the state will also be solved to some extent.

Sand mining stopped in 2016 when the Supreme Court made the clearance of the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority mandatory for sand mining. The Union Ministry of Environment has also issued a notification. The National Green Tribunal ruled in 2020 that although the Revenue Department issued special guidelines and took steps for sand removal, the project should be prepared only through approved consultants. Then on the basis of the order issued by the government on February 14, 2022, sand mining will resume.