Sand association sees red at ministry's clause

MANGALORE: The Dakshina Kannada District Sand Boat Workers Association are up in arms against the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification of the ministry of environment and forests. Notified in the Gazette of India on January 6, the notification, the association says strikes at the very root of their livelihood of mining sand traditionally from riverbeds and would deprive at least 15,000 families of their livelihood in coastal districts.
The association estimates there are 15,000 families in the coastal districts whose survival depends on income generated by labourers and loaders mining sand and loading them on boats. The notification in Section 3 which lists prohibited activities within CRZ states mining of sand, rocks and other sub-strata material expect those rare minerals not available outside CRZ area, exploration and exploitation of oil/natural gas are banned.
Jithendra J Suvarna, president of the association, told reporters here on Monday that as per the notification, no sand could be mined from riverbeds up to the point where there is natural ingress of seawater. This in the case of Dakshina Kannada, Suvarna noted would extend all the way up to the Thumbay vented dam, some 16 km from the sea shore and the prime areas from where sand is extracted in a traditional manner in the district.
Naveen Shetty, director, said sand mining from riverbed paves the way for smooth flow of water and also reduced the chances of flooding of areas along the river banks. Sand that comes from upstream is collected along the bends in the river and in flat areas of the riverbed, he said, adding that removing it manually was the answer to maintain ecological balance. The MoEF must consider these facts and pave the way for manual sand mining.