Oct 2025: 12 Drowned in Sand Mine Pit in Utangan river, Uttar Pradesh

October 19, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Search operation going on in Utangan river Agra to recover the bodies of victims)

In the latest example of how illegal sand mine pits are proving to be a death trap across the country; 12 people have lost their lives after falling in deep sand mine pit in Utangan river in Agra district. The incident occurred when 13 young and adult villagers entered the river and suddenly fell into the cavity around 1 pm Oct 2 on Dussehra near Dungarwala village under Khairagarh tehsil.

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Sand Mining

Odisha Lawyer Sankar Prasad Pani Interview: Citizen Monitoring Key to Improve Riverbed Mining Governance

May 9, 2025May 9, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Lawyer Sankar Prasad Pani. Source: Facebook)

Advocate Sankar Prasad Pani is among some of the finest environmental lawyers in Odisha with knowledge about the effective legal remedies for addressing the adverse impacts of unsustainable and illegal riverbed mining. Over the past decade, Sankar Pani has argued in more than 50 cases in the eastern bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT).

The lawyer aims to bring transparency and improve governance in riverbed mining operations in Odisha and has secured remarkable decisions in some of the cases in 2024. In January 2025, the tribunal prohibited sand excavation in Mayurbhanj district following Pani’s intervention. In this interview with the lawyer Sankar Pani, Bhim Singh Rawat of SANDRP focuses on the basics of legal mechanisms and impact as well as limitations of available legal tools concerning the governance of finite natural resource like sand.

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Advocate Waryam Singh Interview: मशीनी खनन से हो रही यमुना बर्बाद

April 20, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Screnshot of Haryana 24 News exclusive report on illegal mechanized sand mining in Yamuna river at Gumthala ghat near Yamuna Nagar-Karnal border of Haryana in May. 2024.)

हरियाणा राज्य के करनाल और यमुनानगर जिलों में वरयाम सिंह एक जाना-माना नाम है। आप पेशे से जिला न्यायालय और पंजाब एवं हरियाणा उच्च न्यायालय में अधिवक्ता हैं। आप यमुना नदी के किनारे स्थित गुमथला गांव में रहते हैं जहाँ आपके प्रयासों से इंक़लाब मंदिर स्थापित है जो देश के स्वतंत्रता सेनानियों को समर्पित है और राज्यस्तर पर प्रसिद्ध है। क्षेत्र में विकास कार्यों में पारदर्शिता एवं सरकारी विभागों के कार्यों में सुधार लाने के लिए आपने हरियाणा एंटी करप्शन सोसाइटी की स्थापना भी की है और आप इन उद्देश्यों के लिए जन सूचना अधिकार कानून का बखूबी इस्तेमाल करते हैं।

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Sand Mining

Indian People’s Fight Against Destructive Riverbed Mining

March 14, 2025March 14, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

Since 1997, March 14 has been observed as an International Day of Action for Rivers across the world. This year the 29^th event on the topic will be celebrated with the theme ‘Our Rivers, Our Future’. Marking the day, SANDRP through this account highlights the exemplary work being done by activists and organizations in protecting the rivers from destructive riverbed mining practices in India.

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Dam Safety

Andhra Pradesh: Prakasam Barrage Damaged by ‘Sand Boats’ Again

September 4, 2024September 11, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Sand boats hit Prakasam Barrage gate no 69 while irrigation officials release 11.24 lakhs cusecs of flood water in Vijayawada on Monday (Sept. 02, 2024). Image Source: Deccan Chronicle)

Amid the unprecedented flood spell in Krishna river passing through the Prakasam barrage located in Vijaywada city of NTR district in Andhra Pradesh, an incident of ‘sand boats’ getting stuck and damaging the barrage in early morning of Sep. 2, 2024, has been reported. The number of boats varied from three to five. The incident became a cause of worry for the structural safety of the barrage.

The New Indian Express report mentioned above reported, quoting irrigation officials that all 70 gates of the barrage were lifted at 2200 hours on Sept. 2, 2024, passing 11.03 lakhs cusecs of water, highest in 70 year history of the barrage. The report stated: “Previously, the Krishna River saw historic floods from October 2 to 13, 2009, when the maximum inflow recorded at Prakasam Barrage was 11,10,404 cusecs at 11 pm on October 5.”

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Sand Mining

Uttar Pradesh Yamuna Aug 2024: NGT Com Finds Sand Mining Rules Violated

August 24, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Feb. 2024 screengrab of a video clip shows instream mechanized sand mining going on in Yamuna river during night hours at Mandawar village in Kairana tehsil of Shamli, UP)

A joint committee formed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Delhi has found gross violations of several rules in a sand mining project on Yamuna river in Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh. The joint committee was formed by principal bench on NGT comprising Justice Prakash Shrivastava, Chairperson, Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and Justice Dr. A. Senthil Vel on May 13, 2024, to ascertain the correct factual position through ground visit while hearing a petition filed by local resident Farukh Chouhan.

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Sand Mining

May-June 2024: Sand Mafias Mowed Three Policemen to Death

June 30, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

Three policemen have lost their lives in three different incidents related to illegal sand mining activities in May-June 2024. In the first incident a policeman Rohit Kumar Pancholi was killed at night on June 8 in Uttar Pradesh. The 24-year-old Constable was trying to stop a tractor-trolley involved in illegal sand mining in Nagla Chandan area of Farrukhabad district.

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Sand Mining

Secret of Goa River Network’s success: Fight Collectively, Consistently to stop the menace of illegal sand mining

June 15, 2024June 27, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Illegal sand extraction in Mandovi river in late evening hours at Amona village on Dec. 12, 2022. Image Credit: GRSPN)

The Goa River Sand Protector Network (GRSPN) has been doing exemplary work in checking adverse impacts of unsustainable and illegal sand mining in Goa rivers. This interview with Adv. Viraj Bakre, one of its key members, highlights the impact of the network’s work, struggle, successes and suggestions for river activists fighting against riverbed mining menace in the country.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 030624: Ecological challenges before the new govts in Sikkim & Arunachal

June 3, 2024June 3, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Anti dam graffiti on the wall of the civil secretariat building in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh in July 2022. Source: Social Media)

As the Hindustan Times Editorial today (June 3, 2024) has rightly underlined, a major challenge before the newly elected state governments in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh is to urgently review the existing, under construction and planned mega hydropower projects in the fragile Himalayan ecology in these border states.

These states are inherently vulnerable to large kinds of disasters including landslides, earthquakes, erosion, floods, GLOFs and also multi hazard disasters. These inherent vulnerabilities are already hugely increased under climate crisis. The large hydropower projects being taken up here are acting as force multipliers for disasters in these states as recent experience including the Oct 2023 events in both states have shown.

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Sand Mining

Why Existing Rules, Regulations Fail to Deter Illegal Sand Miners of Ken River?

April 6, 2024May 1, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Screenshot of Bundeli Junction video report dated Nov. 19, 2023 on large scale mechanized, instream sand mining in Ken river in Banda district. )

Ken is lifeline of Bundelkhand and among key tributaries of Lower Yamuna basin. The river is relatively clean and free of industrial pollution. However, its existence is under threat due to catchment degradation and the proposed Ken-Betwa interlinking proposal. Apart from this, the river eco-system and dependent people have been at receiving end of large scale mechanized and unsustainable, mostly illegal mining practices for the past many years.

Some recent short video clips, media reports and satellite images have again revealed that sand miners continue to indulge in river destructive mining activities in government approved mine sites in three districts of two states namely Panna and Chhatarpur districts of Madhya Pradesh and in Banda district of Uttar Pradesh. The miners here have blatantly violated the existing mining rules, MoEF guidelines and NGT orders while the respective regulatory agencies have miserably failed to enforce the laws and ensure compliance.

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