SEZ contractors spur illegal sand mining in Karnataka

Even as the district administration is trying to curb illegal sand mining in coastal districts, the sand mafia is taking their activity to a dangerous level. 

They have already engineered the transfer of two deputy commissioners in the district. V Ponnuraj, a tough IAS officer who took on the powerful sand mafia by the collar, was shunted out last December.

Subodh Yadav, who was just getting his act together to tackle the mafia, was also transferred after six months of service in Dakshina Kannada district.

Suddenly, sand has become scarce. The region is second only to the river basins of Ganga, Narmada and Brahmaputra in the production of sand.

“The coastal regions crisscrossed by over 21 medium and small rivers produce not less than 600 million cubic metres of sand annually. But the domestic demand for sand has gone up by 10% to 15%. But ever since work on the special economic zone (SEZ) began in Mangalore, all the sand mined is vanishing into the SEZ area,” said an official working with the mines and geology department.

“There is a ban on sand mining in coastal regulation zone (CRZ) areas (500 metres from high tide level), but orders are being violated with impunity in front of our own eyes. We are helpless as powerful political leaders are behind them. They can seal the mouths of administration staff like deputy commissioners compared to whom we are just small fries,” he said.

The sand mafia is so powerful in Dakshina Kannada that huge machineries like excavators, bulldozers, loaders and dumpers are being used to extract in violation of a court  order banning mechanised sand mining in coastal areas.

“It has to be manually dug out with the help of divers and labourers by using boats fitted with outboard engines for navigation. The sand offloaded by the riverside should be manually loaded into the trucks. But now, a few lease holders have started mining sand with the help of earth moving machinery, defying every rule in the book,” said Purushottam Malli, secretary of Dakshina Kannada Traditional Sand Miners’ Association.

All the excavation spots in downstream Nethravati River are classified under CRZ area where sand mining is totally banned even for manual excavation.  The mechanical sand excavation operations are being carried out by political party workers under the patronage of political leaders, said Malli.

Sand prices have gone through the roof in the last three months ever since the work on Mangalore Special Economic Zone began in full swing.

“The contractors of the SEZ were given targets to complete each project by the principals. They do not care about the cost of sand or the availability. They can bend and shape the law as they want it. Moreover, they are offering three times the cost of sand used for domestic purposes.  The cost of a load of sand has gone up from Rs1,800 to Rs6,000 since January. This has dimmed the prospects of middle class people for building a house,” said MLA of Mangalore, UT Khader.

District in-charge minister J Krishna Palemar, however, denied illegal sand mining using earth-moving equipment.

“The new sand mining policy has plugged all loopholes in the sand mining law. We are working on a model to get sand at lower cost for budget houses like the ones built by individuals, that will ensure its availability to them,” he added.