The villages and the rivers of Goa are witnessing absolute destruction due to the rampant sand mining activities that have been going on in spite of very strong activism and court intervention.It seems that the people who are carrying out sand mining have absolutelyno concern, nor do they bother about the directions of the High Court and National Green Tribunal (NGT) as well as they seem to beflouting and completely ignoring even decisions taken by the State authorities, who in turn have gone to the NGT to give assurances that sand mining licenses arenot being given and sign mining was not a legal activity.
Now this line between legal and illegal seems to have got completely blurred to the extent of absolutely vanishing and disappearing. When it comes to the sandmining mafia, a term which has not been coined by activists, but used by the honourable court.
Recently, an investigation was done by Herald TV and O Heraldo in the month of May and June, where our team went into the absolute interior areas of the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary to get back absolutely unseen, exclusive and unprecedented footage, which left no doubt that irrespective ofall the assurances given to various courts, there was sand mining going on in the interiors of those villages.
The evidence was far too stuck for anybodyto deny we found mined sand kept in variousplaces.We saw trucks at one or two places and these were deep interior villages of Mhadei, where nobody had any business to be there.
The reaction we got from the local self-government authorities was that this sand is used for local construction in the village. Now, even if that is true and take it on face value, even that is illegal.
So the issue is rampant illegality has become the new normal and the normalisation of illegal activities is where the biggest danger is and now we should thank the High Court bench of the two honourable justices, Justice Sonak and his brother judge for actually directing the Forest Department to
go and inspect the areas, which were reported by Herald and come back with a detailed report.
Then they said that if these reports were true, then serious action was needed.
Viraj Bakre, member of River Sand Protectors Network, who was one of the first litigants in this sand mining case, responded by saying, “We had filed ourpublic interest litigation through Rainbow Warriors in 2018, 14/2018 was our case number and the case was heard for almost two years. We got a very good judgment. We didn't ask for any stoppage or anything. We just requested the court to see that whatever the rules are there, like environmental clearance rules, are followed and the extraction is done in a sustainable manner, which was not being done.”
“So we had given complaint to all the departments, but they were not taking cognizance. So, ultimately when the court asked the concerned departments, they accepted that rules weren’t being followed. We don't have the proper mechanism. Like, a simple thing is that whenever the sand extraction is done, it should not be below three metres,” Bakre said.
So, affidavit was filed wherein they said that there wasn’t any mechanism to check the depth of the river.
“This is the basic thing which this they should havefollowed.So this is what the background is. We got a good order and then subsequently what happened is the order was not being followed. So through Goa Foundation the contempt petition was filed, which was again disposed off and again we had to file a contempt petition,” the activist said.
“The government showed that it was taking action and things were under control. But it was not under control. So again after one year we filed another contempt petition, which is now being heard. It is in this case, the court took note of Herald’s report,” he said.
“The hearing is still going on. In fact, the government has failed to reply to the information sought by the NGT. There is a report on the Chapora river sand mining, wherein it is mentioned on the last page and the last line that there is no significant frequent deposition of sand. Despite that, the government was giving extraction licences. So, we had to tell the NGT that government cannot issue any licences, unless there is a deposition,” he said.
“There were reports in the newspapers that they had collected the application forms and were about to grant the extraction licenses because they said the NGT hadn’t stopped the government from granting the licenses. Then it was pleaded that government should not grant licences till this matter is properly heard and disposed,” Bakre said.
Speaking on the impact of sand mining on the rivers and lives of villagers, Uday Mahale, sand mining-affected person from Poroscodem village said, “Farming has been destroyed due to sand mining in the beautiful villages. Even more frustrating is the villagers don’t seem to be getting any relief from thepolice and other government authorities. There is no response from any of the doors that they have knocked.”
“The shock and pain of the villagers in sand mining-affected areas is absolutely visible and there’s literally nohope of support from anywhere, except the courts. Litigation is going on, but these are people who ultimately have cast their votes. Instead of getting support from the system, they are fighting for their survival,” Mahale said.
No doors seem to be opening and their livelihood, which depends on farming, is getting destroyed completely by this whole menace called sand mining.
Elaborating further on the impact of sand mining on the people’s lives, Ashok Shirodkar, sand mining-affected person from Volvoi said, “There’s rampant corruption. No one is bothered. We have given photographs of mining trucks in action as evidence to the police. But there has been no action. In fact they tend to counter-question us when we approach them.”
“Unless corruption ends and the monitoring authorities are sacked by the court, nothing will happen,” Shirodkar said.
Shirodkar, who lost his son in a tragic accident involving a sand mining truck, highlighted the menace of these heavy vehicles transporting sand.
“These trucks are involved in accidents in his village, but the truck drivers tend to get away every time. My son died in an accident involving one such truck. Instead of giving me justice, I was pressurised to hush up the case. The authorities gave safe passage to the driver involved in the accident,” he said.
“I did not receive any support from the villagers. Sand mining continues despite the accidents that occur in the village. The culprits tend to get away scot free. To ensure that this does not happen with anybody else, I have got involved in the campaign against sand mining,” he said.
Shirodkar alleged that there is no fear of law. According to him, every sand miner pays bribe discreetly.
“That is why all the illegalities are overlooked and there is no respect for life,” he said.
Speaking about the constant battle that is being fought by the people against the sand mining mafia, Luel Fernandes, resident of Chandor-Cavorim said, “You need to see the economics of it to know the overall dynamics of sand mining. Money is the main attraction for sand mining, which is creating a problem. There is a huge demand for sand because of the illegal construction activities going on.”
“If you go to the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) and ask them about the quantum of legal business that is going on, you will find that illegal construction business is flaring up because of the Goa Regularisation of Unauthorised Construction Act, 2016,” he said.
“You put up any illegal construction, regularise it and get the house numbers for all the illegal structures. From where does the sand come for building these illegal structures? These illegal structures are eating into the human habitat,” he said.
He further said that if you are getting one truck driver makes around Rs 25,000 per trip. If there are four trucks, then the money made is Rs 1 lakh collectively.
“Will a 10th std pass boy will be able to earn Rs 1 lakh per day legally? They earn this much money by selling the sand. All those in the chain, starting from the talathi to the MLA, everyone is involved in this business. Otherwise, why aren’t they stopping the illegalities? Don't they know what is happening in the village? Did these miners come from Pakistan? They came from within the State itself,” Fernandes said.
He said that these illegal miners have disturbed the heritage sites which are below the riverbeds, because all the riverbeds were navigational source. There weren’t any roads that people could use. So, they used come on boats. Even the survey plans have gone off track.
“The coconut trees have fallen. You ask them to take responsibility for this destruction none of them will come forward. Rather you will be attacked. Even if you see the CAG report, it has mentioned the huge losses suffered by the exchequer. You are opening your chest for robbers to come and rob your things. It’s a minor mineral,” he said.
Interestingly, the Environment Impact Assessment Authority has decided to revoke all licenses for minor minerals. On top of that, the government has promised the NGT that the licences will not be issued.
“They must be doing it for political reasons. They must be specifying them that they would be given the licence if they stop. All over the world nobody is doing sand mining. It has stopped in Kali River at Karwar, it has stopped in Khanapur (in Karnataka). What are you’re doing this business for? It is destroying the hinterlands for the sake of real estate business,” he said.
“It is destroying our cities. If you come to Panjim or Margao, you will one building is high one building is low. What type of planning are you doing? At least leave our villages alone. Don’t touch the nature. If you see, all the hills have been destroyed in the name of development. What is this going on? Suspend the corrupt officers and send them back to home,” he said.
The Directorate of Mines and Geology (DMG) had not renewed or granted any sand mining permits. So what was the cause of the so-called largesse to the environment?
“It is normally projected that somebody went to court and the court ordered not to grant any licence. It’s not like that. The department has not renewed the licenses. When we filed the PIL at that time, the court asked whether all the Environment Clearance (EC) norms were followed. The government said it did that and no licences were issued as it had to comply with all the EC conditions,” Bakre said.
“We are in 2023. The government hasn’t granted any extraction licence. So wherever it is going on, it is illegal,” he said.
In fact, Fernandes alleged that the Rs 25,000 a truck driver makes from the illegal selling of sand, almost entire amount is goes in bribing the traffic police, talathis and all those are enabling this illegal trade.
The Goa Sand Protectors Network has actually coming at a stage when there is at least major litigation or interventions happening. How did this network of people come together?
“I’ll go back my colleague who is now 70 plus, but is not keeping well. Arun Margaonkar was the person who started actually this movement. We can say that sand issue came to light because of him. He is the silent hero in the sense that he stays on the river bank in Khandola, near the ferry boat. His way passes through that area, which very beautiful once upon a time. Then sand extraction started somewhere in 2014-15. It became rampant. Around 100-150 hutments were there and it was all a nuisance for him. It affected him. So then we started collecting information through RTI application and made complaints to various departments like the Captain of Ports, DMG and told them to take action, but nothing happened. So, we filed the PIL. So it was Arun Margaonkar who really started the movement.
When police patrolling is supposed to happen on regular basis, whether the coastal police does it or the local police or villagers and activists themselves, now when you see boats often, what happens is boats are just kept there in many places. The police action needs to be taken into account very seriously.
In many places the sand mining mafia actually keep the boats there and go away. If the police, coastal police and the Captain of Ports do their work properly and seize the illegal canoes, this menace can be controlled to a large extent.
The home minister should be answerable to how this activity is going on. The rampant mining sand mining is going on irrespective of everything else.
If the authorities act on the court orders and remain vigilant, this menace can be stopped. But there are influenced by politicians.
There are two aspects that should be underlined very strongly. One is the environmental impact of illegal sand mining, because the larger fallout is that our rivers and the allied natural resources around the riverbeds like forest, could be adversely impacted.
When riverbeds get completely devoid of basic sand, it also impacts river flow. It will ultimately impact our irrigation and farming. So, our entire ecosystem gets destroyed when sand mining actually happens.
Of course there’s another argument which is put forward by the builder lobby and others and saying that sand is actually needed for the construction activities.
But as the experts have pointed out, if you look at the amount of sand that is actually required for buildings and the amount of sand which is extracted, the disparity is completely obvious.
The fact that much more sand is extracted than what is actually required for buildings, there is obviously siphoning of the sand happening. In fact, we know and we have witnessed this as well there are so many mining trucks that not necessarily remain in Goa, but they go outside Goa as well to give sand to the construction lobbies even outside the borders of the State.
So apart from the huge environmental impact that we are looking at, there are other issues that also need to be looked at very seriously. There almost seems to be a strong allegation that the state is not only ignorant, it is complicit in this business.
But the point is when a referee or a judge allegedly becomes a player in it, then it’s not a win-win battle for anybody. It’s actually a losing battle for people are fighting and a winning battle for those who are at par and this is something that the government must address.
You cannot shy away from the fact that assurances have been given by the environment authorities and the State government to bodies like the NGT and the court and after giving these assurances if those very assurances are being violated without getting checked by the authorities, then the authorities have to face the charge of being complicit and a charge that they have not been able to defend.