In a two part weekend series Shweta Kamat, literally digs deep, to find how excessive sand extraction may lead to a depletion of sand from our river beds
The land of sun and sand may be looking at a threat, albeit a long term one, of precious sand getting completely depleted from its river beds due to sand extraction.
59 licences for sand extraction have been issued officially –the bulk of them for extract ion from Mandovi (26 licences) and Terekhol (28 licences). The other five are for the Chapora River. With 2 canoes per licence, there should be only 188 canoes on the rivers of Goa, used to extract sand.
The picture is however different. More canoes than the number registered are on the rivers. Moreover, the River Sal where no licences have been issued also has several canoes ferrying sand, loaded so much to the brim that more than half the boat is under water.
In the current financial year, 52,800 MT sand was extracted bringing in royalty of Rs 5.28 lakh for government. According to rough estimates, industry sources point out in addition to the amount legally extracted, twenty percent of the amount is illegally extracted.
According to industry sources, places like Colvale have been exploited to near saturation, forcing sand extractors to look out for new locations. However, considering the pace of construction activity in Goa, sand will soon be a scarce commodity.
A known contractor spoke to Herald about the fact that there is very little sand left in rivers like Chapora and Terekhol. “For years, huge quantities of sand have been extracted from these rivers. The State Government has completely failed to exert control over the growing demand and the excessive mining of sand in Goa,” the contractor says. After 2004, the demand for sand in the state hit an all-time high and as a result a larger number of people started getting into the business of sand mining.
Sand extraction in Goa has a history that dates back to pre-Liberation with experts saying that sand was earlier extracted only from coastal sand dunes, with prior permission from the mamlatdar. Later however, due to the ensuing beach erosion, contractors turned towards river beds. “Earlier it was only Chapora and Tirakhol, now the Mandovi River has become a bed of mining activity. But, due to the high salt content, it was not suitable for construction,” adds the contractor.
Local legislator and erstwhile sand extractor, Nilkanth Halarnkar, on the prevalent mining of riverbeds, states, “there is hardly anything left right now at Colvale for sand extraction.” Halarnkar, who stopped extracting sand almost 8 years ago, said that only 25 per cent of sand extraction is still happening at Colvale. Goa’s extraction woes that started in the sixties saw South Goa flooded with sand from Karwar and the subsequent construction boom raised the demand even higher.
However, the ban on transportation of sand from Karwar hit the construction industry. Karwar also catered to Goa’s demand because it has sweet water rivers. The cost of Karwar sand was Rs 600 per cubic metre including transportation, which worked better than the Rs 350 per cubic metre plus transportation costs, for Goan sand. The ban on transport from Karnataka has put the pressure back on Goa. (Part II tomorrow)
