PANJIM: Thirty-nine potential sites along North Goa rivers, have been identified for sand mining, at a meeting on Friday presided over by the officiating Collector North, Sanjiv Gadkar. The sites were marked on the basis of the six meters depth of sand, from the river bed, officials said.
The entire Goa coastline comes within the CRZ and sand mining has been banned in the state, and no sand mining licences have been issued over the last two years. This committee has been constituted to regularize sand mining given the importance of sand in the real estate industry.
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The committee, that included officials from the Mines department, Captain of Ports, Goa State Pollution Control Board, Water Resources department, deputy Collectors of Bardez, Pernem and Tiswadi and other committee members including local representatives has decided to appoint an agency to conduct a study on how much sand is available and whether the identified site is in eco sensitive zone, a fish breeding area or CRZ issues.
These sites have been marked on all rivers in north Goa including Mandovi and Chapora, officials said, adding that only in the Tiracol river ~ half of which falls in Goa and half in Maharashtra, data will have to be collected. Most of the data on the rivers is with the Captain of Ports.
Before finalization, the study will have to be made even though, officials said, they were looking at all areas, given the importance of sand for the construction industry.
It may be recalled that there have been allegations and documented instances of blatant sand mining.
In the High Court, Justices SJ Vazifdar and FM Reis had taken suo moto cognizance of illegal sand mining and sent notices to the chief secretary and the Department of Mines and Geology, asking them to explain what they were doing to curb the illegality. For the first offence for transportation of sand, there is a fine of upto Rs 5,000 with 10 times the royalty and the violators can even be imprisoned.
