With low capital base, cheaply exploited unorganised labour living in poor conditions, zero concern for ecology and environment, intensive sand mining is nothing but the mass rape of rivers of Goa. Exploitation has crossed millions of cubic metres per month. The business has crossed Rs. 1000 crores per year (check rising bank deposits in Colvale, Dhargal, Pirna alone) and is still growing thanks to explosion of constructions, megaprojects. We don't need another Saleli in our islands. Farmers from Tuem, Camurlim, Chicalim colvale used to visit me at St. Cruz to tell their woes. River banks have collapsed. Shell fisheries is gone. Coconut groves washed out. Khazans flooded. The letter sent by Minister of environment and forests (independent charge) Mr. Jairam Ramesh ( http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/Rpt_IA1.pdf) to all the chief ministers on sustainable mining of minor minerals on June 1, 2010 vindicates what I had been advocating since 1993. On September 22, 2006, I had sent a note to CS, Goa hoping that he would act on it. Since 1993-4 I did not receive much support from civil society or the media on the issue. The issue was focused since 1993. Collector (north Goa) Mr. Jose Philip was given a copy of the report prepared for Peaceful Society by my students who happened to be from the villages known for sand mining-Dhargal, Colvale etc. . (The report was captioned-'Ecological & Economic Aspects of Alluvial Sand Mining from Terekhol & Colvale Rivers, Kamat, N, Kasar V, Desai, V and Mandrekar K, 1994, Peaceful society). He sent some letters, but there was no change. people were turning greedier. Have Rs. 5 lakhs and invest in this business. In 2000 I supervised another student from Cumbarjua, Mr. K. Bhosle to survey all the five estuarine islands of Mandovi. He produced an impressive report-' Environmental management of estuarine ecosystem in Goa". He quantified sand exploitation in Jua. It worked out to be 61000 cubic metres (CM) per year, far above sustainable capacity in that small ecofragile island. At the unit rate prevailing then (Rs. 600 per CM) they were getting Rs. 3. 6 crores per year. Imagine 3.6 crores in a village where the panchayat has an annual development budget of a few lakhs per year. This study showed that sand worth Rs. 60-75 crores was exploited from Jua over 20 years. This must be a record for a small estuarine island. Again massive sand excavation has begun in Jua. I asked my student to suggest remedies. He came out with the following:- "Sustainable Management Of Alluvial Sand Mining In Mandovi River: The overexploitation of the alluvial sand may result into erosion of the river. Therefore when Government authority issues license for extraction sand following guidelines should be put to make sustainable exploitation of sand. The extraction of the sand must be restricted to certain minimum capacity for every month and that limit must not be exceeded. Certain plots should be made in the river which should be allotted for each sand owner.Authority should be appointed to look after whether these guidelines are followed or not and penalty should be given if guidelines are not followed" I had submitted a copy of the report to govt. of Goa. Now with ban by Karnataka to export Kali river sand to Goa a new "Sand rush" has begun. Therefore the issue needs to be focused because not only ecofragile islands in Mandovi but more than 20 villagesin Terekhol, Colvale and Mandovi river basin face the problems. I intend to followup this matter persistently with Goa administration. If these remedies fail then the affected villagers would be guided to follow the peaceful, non violent route of a PIL in high court. I am sure the civil society would find a lawyer for them.
--------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dr. Nandakumar Kamat <nka...@unigoa.ac.in> Date: Fri, Sep 22, 2006 at 5:22 PM Subject: Note on preparing a policy on sustainable mining of alluvial sand resources from Goa's rivers To: cs-...@nic.in Cc: nandka...@gmail.com To, The CHief secretary, Govt. of Goa, Shri J.P.Singh, IAS, Sir, Compliments for your stand on a rapidly depleting resource of Goa-the alluvial sand. I am attaching a note for your action. It may be also brought to the notice to the hon. minister for mines, shri Digambar Kamat. If you need any further information I would be pleased to furnish. Let us all strive to get an excellent and acceptable policy for Goa. Thanks warm regards Dr. Nandkumar Kamat Goa University Note Dr. Nandkumar M. Kamat Lecturer, Dept. of Botany, Expert in Environmental Impact Assessment Goa University Sept. 22, 2006 To, The Chief Secretary, Government of Goa, Shri J. P.Singh, I.A.S. A note on formulating a clear-cut scientific policy on sustainable alluvial sand mining Sir, My attention was drawn by the following news item published in The Navhind Times issue today (Sept. 22, 2006)-Weblink-http://www.navhindtimes.com/articles.php?Story_ID=092251 Policy on sand mining soon NT Staff Reporter Panaji, Sept 21: The state government today gave directions for devising a policy and finalizing guidelines for sand extraction from the Goan rivers as well as the transportation of the minor mineral. The Chief Secretary, Mr J P Singh, after holding a meeting with the collector (North Goa), director of mines, police officials, deputy collectors and mamlatdars of Pernem taluka and the Pernem MLA, Mr Jitendra Deshprabhu said that a mechanism would be devised up to the point of taxation and revenue collection for these activities. Mr Deshprabhu, later addressing a press conference said that he was forced to meet the Chief Secretary after the government, one week ago, came down heavily on all transportation of sand extracted from the Tirakhol river and all such transporters were subjected to severe harassment by the local administration in the Pernem taluka. The extreme action was ordered after the Chief Secretary himself visited Tirakhol and Keri villages, recently, he said, adding “Around 1,400 families who are employed in sand extraction activities as well as the transportation of sand, are facing grave hardships not only to maintain their families but also for meeting the financial demands coming from the bankers who have financed the transportation vehicles for sand transportation purpose.”Mr Deshprabhu further informed that the extracted sand is largely from Maharashtra side of the river, and the extractors as well as the canoe owners, after extracting the sand, use Goan land mass for its storage. He also observed that all the construction activities around the state are supported with this very high quality sand. The Chief Secretary was informed about all these aspects, Mr Deshprabhu mentioned. The Pernem MLA further alleged that the department of mines, for obvious reasons, are harassing the sand transporters from Pernem taluka by citing the reason that the transporters do not purchase transport passes from the department; the cost of 100 passes being Rs 7,000 and which are to be exhausted within 3 months from their purchase. “This procedure has given rise to wholesale corruption which is supported by the personnel of the department of mines, who collect underhand money from the sand transporters to allow the transportation,” he alleged. The Chief Secretary has promised to look into the matter and given necessary directions to the director of mines, Mr Deshprabhu stated, adding “Mr Singh has also given direction to assess the environment impact on the extraction of riverbed sand so that adequate checks/ measures are implemented to ensure the land on all sides of the river do not collapse thus causing loss of the revenue land.” In view of the above news item , I wish to congratulate you for understanding the age-old problem of unsustainable mining. I have often written on this issue. I had also engaged my students from Colvale-Bardez and Dhargal-Pernem to prepare a small report in 1994 on Alluvial sand mining in Terkhol and Chapora rivers. Copies of this report were given to north Goa collector and other departments. I have been lobbying with the government to learn lessons from Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnatka and TamilNadu which have taken strong measures against rampant and uncontrolled alluvial sand mining. I am annexing some useful weblinks which you could use to understand the situation in south India and also some good policies. Specific recommendations:- This is the note which I would like you to consider in public interest:- “Whereas the government of Goa is aware of the importance of minor mineral prospecting and exploitation benefiting the state’s economy, infrastructural development and employment; And whereas, the government needs to take into consideration the future sustainability of the exploitation of the non-replenishable minor mineral resources such as alluvial sand and pebbles from the freshwater zone of Goa’s rivers and streams ; And whereas, ecological and environmental concerns have been expressed by the people in the sand mining area about unsustainable sand excavation from the rivers; And whereas states like Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnatka and TamilNadu have taken certain steps to control, regulate or prohibit alluvial river sand mining; Therefore the government of Goa is pleased to constitute a Panel of Experts ( POE) to prepare a clearcut scientific policy aimed at formulation of the guidelines to fix the locations, period, techniques and quantitative limits of sustainable exploitation of alluvial river sand deposits, with the following terms of reference:- To review the existing alluvial river sand mining operations , the licensing , supervisory procedures To assess the direct and indirect ecological and economic impacts of the sand mining activity To study/refer the sustainable river alluvial sand mining policies in other states/countries To fix the specific “Sand exploitation zones’/ locations riverwise and the determine the quantum of Maximum sustainable mining limits in metric tones/year per river To improve the existing guidelines/prepare new guidelines for licensing, mining, stacking, transport, monitoring and supervision of all sand mining related operations To prepare an appropriate policy for sustainable utilization of the alluvial sand resources of Goa in an environmentally friendly manner For the above purpose the POE may visit the locations, call for records, data etc. and organize meetings with officers, scientists and may invite public inputs. Names recommended to be members of POE on sand mining Dr. S.Y.S. Singbal, Retd. Deputy director, NIO, Chemical oceanographer, Porvorim, Goa (vast experience on estuarine chemistry) Dr. Antonio Mascarenhas, Scientist, NIO (Geophysicist, Expert on Sand dunes and coastal regulation zone) Dr. Rajiv Nigam, Scientist, sedimentologist and paleontologist, GOD, NIO Prof. G.R.Nayak, Head, dept. of Marine sciences, Goa University, Marine sedimentologist Dr. Dipak Mayenkar, geologist, Dir. Of Mines, Govt. of Goa ( could be made Member secretary of the POE) Dr. N.P.S. Varde, Scientist/jt. Secretary Representatives of dir. Of agriculture, revenue, captain of ports, industries, trade, commerce The POE may need six months to submit its’ policy. The CS may act on the above note. The CS. May be pleased to see the weblinks below 1.Mining away the river Despite numerous prohibitions and regulations, sand mining continues rapidly on the riverbed of the Bharathapuzha. Water tables have dropped dramatically, and a land once known for its plentiful rice harvest now faces scarcity of water, as locals are split between conservation and livelihood. http://www.indiatogether.org/2005/jun/env-sandmine.htm 2. Sri Lanka -- National Policy on Sand as a Resource for the Construction Industry (DRAFT) http://www.elaw.org/resources/text.asp?id=2793 -- Dr. Nandkumar Kamat, GOA