Events & Issues

New Delhi, 15 February 2010

Sick Rivers

HALT THE SAND MINING LOOT

By Proloy Bagchi

It is virtual loot. Looks like, sand is being plundered from the river-beds all over India. While the construction boom fuels the demand, weak governance and rampant corruption are facilitating unrestrained and illegal mining of sand and gravel in the rivers, threatening their existence. What is happening is nothing but suicidal. This mindless, unrestrained and unchecked activity is posing threats of widespread depletion of water resources leading to avoidable hardships to the people.

It is not all gas. It has already happened, for instance, in Kerala. Its second longest river Bharathappuzha, also known as Nila, has become a victim of indiscriminate sand mining. The journal India Together recently reported, “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...In the villages and towns around the river, groundwater levels have fallen drastically, and wells are almost perennially dry”.

Last year Palakkad, a district largely dependent on the river for drinking water, saw “one of its worst droughts in its history”.  Instead of a free-flowing river that it was, Bharathappuzha had no water in it. During the past decade unregulated sand mining has all but devoured the riverbed. With the sand cover gone, shrubs have sprouted all over, and even acacia groves have cropped up in the middle of the river. A source of drinking water for about 700,000 people in 175 villages and several towns in Palakkad, Thrissur and Malappuram districts, Bharathppuzha is rapidly ceasing to be so. Meetings and rallies are held on its dry bed while drinking water has become a sought-after commodity. Palakkad, known as the “The rice bowl of Kerala”, is on the threshold of losing that sobriquet.

Similar has been the fate of the Pamba River, Kerala’s third longest river. For its association with the Sabarimala shrine it is considered sacred and is also known as “Dakshin Ganga”. That, however, has not saved it from meeting the same fate as that of Bharathappuzah. In fact, uncontrolled sand-mining has reduced the water-holding capacity of several rivers in the State which become trickles soon after monsoons only to dry up later. Kerala may, in all probability, lose its green mantle and may not be able to live up to its epithet of “God’s own country”.

Even the sacred Godavari River, flowing from West to East over the Deccan plateau, has been mined so badly for its sands that its basin in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra State has dried up. In Aurangabad district, villagers have recounted to “Down to Earth”, the respected environmental periodical, how Godavari would be brimming with water until only about two years ago, but now it has considerably shrunk, so much so that scores of villages in Paithan tehsil have to get water through tankers. This is so despite the existence of the nearby big Jaikwadi dam.

Most farmers have stopped cultivating water-intensive sugarcane and banana. Wells have dried up and farmers have to invest in having water piped in over long distances. Rocks jut out in the indiscriminately excavated banks of the Godavari near Wadwali village, the resident farmers of which had threatened to commit self-immolation in front of the district collector’s office.

According to rules, sand can be excavated only up to a depth of one metre but greedy contractors, most without permits, in connivance with officials, dig up to as much as seven metres. Sand is just being plundered, feeding the booming nearby construction markets of Pune and Nashik. Rules and regulations are seldom observed. With lax control and monitoring, it is kind of a free for all.

Things are no better in the central Indian province of Madhya Pradesh. Unscrupulous contractors, with more than willing co-operation of the corrupt government officials, are emptying the river beds of sand. Whether it is Narmada, Chambal, Betwa or Wainganga – the major rivers – or numerous rivulets and streams all have come in for severe depredation in so far as their sands are concerned. The State Government has wittingly lent a helping hand for the loot. Overstepping its authority, the government exempted mining of sand and gravel from any kind of environmental clearances under Rule 49 of its Minor Mineral Rules notified in 1996, neutralising the provisions made in several Central legislations on conservation of environment and mineral resources. None of these central legislations has delegated powers to the States to amend any of their provisions.

Worse, a section of the contentious Rule authorises the Government to exempt any mine to operate without obtaining environmental clearance. Hundreds of lessees of the Mining Corporation of Madhya Pradesh are, therefore, merrily excavating sand from the State’s rivers, generally, disregarding all environmental regulations. Mercifully, Ajay Dube of “Prayatna”, a reputed environmental advocacy group, has approached the State High Court for quashing of the unconstitutional rule.

The cases cited above are only illustrative. The malaise is pretty widespread as many other States, such as Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, etc. are also victims of unchecked illegal sand-mining the consequences of which, needless to say, are very serious. According to NM Shareef of the Geological Survey of India, “Uncontrolled sand mining from the riverbed leads to the destruction of the entire river system. Sand acts like a sponge, which helps in recharging the water table. Once this layer is removed, the hydrodynamics of the river gets disturbed and affects the velocity of water flow. This also enhances the penetration of sunlight deep into the soil, which aggravates the groundwater evaporation. Excessive in-stream sand and gravel mining lower the river bottom, which distorts the flow regime leading to the river bank erosion. As the trucks race to the middle of the river to collect sand, a bit of the riverbed dies every day. Such destruction destroys the entire habitat in the area”.

Apart from these on-site effects, the off-site effects are also quite lethal. Progressive fall in quantum of water in the river is accompanied by sinking water tables that adversely impact people’s daily lives and raise issues relating to their livelihood.

Rivers of India are already seriously sick. Polluted by industrial and urban effluents, they are also victims of deforestation in their catchments, damming and degradation because of unchecked sand-mining on their banks and beds. Besides, erratic rainfall, induced by changing climate, is taking its toll, adversely impacting their capacity to sustain the current levels of economic activities, especially agricultural productivity. The Prime Minister has already warned that the country has to snap out of its false sense of food-security. Perhaps, he also needs to advise the States to start to govern and take care of their rivers and other water resources to prevent the country from being overtaken by desertification, famine and hunger. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)