Sand Mining

East India Sand Mining 2018: Will NGT order help restore Subarnarekha River?

Bihar Unsustainable sand mining causing floods in West Champaran The sand mining in the rivers of West Champaran was causing unmitigated floods in the region, year after year but the govt failed to respond.

– West Champaran district also sees many floods in the non-monsoon months, many of which go unreported, and often, ignored by flood-relief schemes. The natural explanation for the flash floods is that the region is at the foothills and rivers from the hills of bordering Nepal flow through it. But the floods are not entirely a result of natural phenomena. Over the years, excessive sand mining in the river beds has led to ecological imbalances, making rivers and streams flood and even change their course, wreaking havoc in the villages along their banks.

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Sand Mining

North East India Sand Mining 2018: Emerging threat to Rivers

Thoubal River 

Manipur DFO bans mining in Thoubal river Showing serious concerns to the degradation of the Thoubal River as well as its environment, a team of state police and Forest department officials led by District Forest Officer (DFO) RK Amarjit paid surprise visit at Moirang Purel and Itham area under Andro Assembly constituency where sand mining was underway at mass scale. During the inspection visit the govt official saw illegal excavation of soil from nearby hills of the area and dump it at Thoubal River for extraction of red sand.

As the mining of sand not only endangered the forest area of the surroundings but also degrades the condition of the Thoubal River, the DFO put immediate ban on the sand mining as well as excavation at hills of the surroundings. He also ordered ban on transportation of red sand in Thoubal and Kakching district. http://kanglaonline.com/2017/11/dfo-thoubal-swings-into-action-bans-sand-mining-at-thoubal-river/ (21 Nov. 2017) 

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP: 14 Jan 2019: Will the campaign of 17-yr old Alappad Girl Wake us up to the perils of unsustainable sand mining?

The coastline between Chavara and Alappad in Kollam district of Kerala, has a decades-long story of people’s battle for survival against mining companies. This stretch in Kerala is where the extensive mineral beach sand mining has been happening since the 1960s. The abandoned buildings are the remains of people’s failed agitations and indefinite strikes. One by one the villages in the area are vanishing from the map of Kerala.

Continue reading “DRP: 14 Jan 2019: Will the campaign of 17-yr old Alappad Girl Wake us up to the perils of unsustainable sand mining?”