Mumbai: The sand-mining mafia in Maharashtra is breaking rules and violating a court ban by dredging up colossal amounts of sand from Bankot Creek, in the mouth of Savitri river, Konkan coast, for Mumbai's booming construction industry.
Sand and gravel being a part of the materials required for construction, the racketeers are making enormous profits with little concern for the environment or the people of this region who have been robbed of their main livelihood: fishing.
Huge boats
Even small vessels that once collected sand are out of a job, as monstrous dredgers suck up tonnes of sand which is transported away in big barges.
"One hundred cubic feet of excavated sand which costs Rs1,200 [Dh99] in Bankot escalates to Rs4,000 per 100 cubic feet when it reaches Belapur from where it is taken to Mumbai to fetch a sizable profit," Jalal Nasser, a social activist from Raigad district fighting against the sand dredging racket told Gulf News.
Government rules allow only one dredger per kilometre but there are at least 10 to 14 dredgers at work per kilometre dredging 24 hours a day, when in fact they are only allowed to dredge from sunrise to sunset, he explains.
Another environmental crusader Sumaira Abdulali is in Alibag for the hearing of her case filed in 2004 when she was attacked for protesting against sand mining on the beaches. One month ago, she along with local villagers and a team of journalists who inspected and photographed illegal sand mining at Bankot, were accosted by five people who said they had bought the entire area for Rs280 million and demanded the cameras be handed over to them.
The team were then chased for 10 kilometres and finally a truck rammed into them, "attempting to push us into the river below". They were threatened by the accused even after they went into the police station at Mahad.
Both Nasser and a Bankot resident, Shamsuddin Undre, say their complaints over illegal sand-mining is received by the authorities — from the local administrative to the ministerial level — with the answer that something will be done about it. But, as Abdulali says with exasperation, "Illegal sand mining in Coastal Regulation Zone [CTZ] areas such as the creeks of Maharashtra is being encouraged by the state government through auctions held by the Revenue Department for sand mining licenses." Despite the Bombay High Court banning sand mining in CRZ, the sand mafia has intensified illegal dredging in Raigad district, she says.
It is not just Maharashtra but geologists are warning of excessive sand mining of Indian rivers which if uncontrolled will cause erosion and changes in the river's channel and destroy marine life and the biodiversity on river banks.
"By the time we can prove the impact of dredging, it will be too late," says Undre.
Undre and Shiv Sena activists in Bankot are protesting against the illegal movement of barges, without any checks by port or custom authorities.
Plunder
Rather than developing this district, the government is allowing the plunder of its natural resources, he feels. "Everyone is involved in this money spinning racket," says Nasser.
A new concept note prepared by the Ministry of Environment and Forests towards framing a CRZ notification indicates activities such as sand mining which erode neighbouring lands, degrade the creek and affect mangroves and marine life will be prohibited.
The sand mafia has already denuded Thane's coast within three to four years and has now moved with a vengeance to the Raigad and Ratnagiri district, says Abdulali.
