Sand mining ban
The chief justice’s acknowledgement that a 100 per cent ban on sand mining is wrong recognises that there should be an optimal balance between environment protection and development.
In Goa, sand extraction has been traditionally done along river beds as a village occupation, manually using basic implements and transported in small canoes.
However, with the boom in the construction industry overexploitation of sand began occurring. Labour from Karnataka, Orissa and Jharkhand has been brought in to meet the rising demand for plundering more and more sand without the qualms that sand is a natural resource and needs to be tapped in accordance with ecological balance.
The bigger problem, most certainly is regulation of this activity by the concerned departments and the involvement of local politicians. As in the case of mining, sand extraction could have been regulated by putting in place extraction limits per person. Limits should also be put in terms of location of the sand extraction site, width of road and carrying capacity of the the village/road.
Regulation, not banning sand extraction is the solution, since sand is essential for construction not only of houses but other infrastructure. Banning leads to large-scale flourishing of illicit sand smuggling from across the borders as was seen in the past month when on a single night at least 150 trucks were piled up at the borders posts, ready to enter Goa. The sand smugglers raked in a huge profit during the ban period in Goa.
The National Green Tribunal’s ban two months ago was justified given the manner in which sand and construction mafia operate all over the country, by extracting maximum benefits with little regard for the local population and environment. In this context the NGT has plainly stated that sand extraction activity has to comply with legislative intent, Supreme court rulings and the laws in force. Environmental clearances and extraction limits have to be enforced, given that sand extraction has got mechanized and the crafts which ferry the sand have grown bigger as also the trucks carrying the sand to the destinations.
The monstrous growth of real estate, especially with the invasion of non-Goan builders, purchase of massive prime and sea frontage properties and second homes by the so called rich and famous have added to the sand plunder. Of course the bartering away of precious land and in turn the heritage to the land shark, is totally at the mercy and privilege of the Goan land owners. But in most cases, those who have sold land have frittered away the liquid cash and then shed tears having spent their fortunes, unless of course they had the foresight to invest it wisely.
It appears that the political class somehow does not seem to find it exigent to immediately enact land laws to regulate the over kill in real estate, land sale and therefore sand (or even mineral ore extraction), since it tends to benefit from illegalities, by bargaining with the law breakers, as seen from the illegal mining case.
It is in this context, that the need for lobbying with the Centre for special provisions for Goa by amending Article 371 of the Constitution is critical now more than ever to bring down the artificial real estate boom, which does not benefit the local population. The amendment to Article 371 is required to include Goa’s name to give the state government powers to enact laws to protect the land, language and culture. Will the chief minister of Goa, the three members of parliament and the Congress party bigwigs who are part of the national executive, pressurize the Centre to effect this amendment? Or will this aspiration of the people die a silent death in the midst of more profane and mundane pursuits of power politics and party one-upmanship going into the forthcoming parliamentary elections?
