Team Herald
PANJIM: Concerned over growing illegal and uncontrolled sand mining activities across the country, the Central government has directed States to make use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones for effective monitoring of the activities.
Fresh guidelines
Union Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) in fresh guidelines issued for enforcement and monitoring of sand mining, has stressed upon the need for replenishment study for river bed sand in order to nullify the adverse impacts arising due to excess sand extraction. An environmental audit is also must by the lease holders.
The guidelines also speaks about undertaking District Survey Reports for sand mining, which has to be prepared before grant of the mining lease and Letter of Intent (LoI) by Mining department. The survey will focus on the inventory of the River Bed Material and Other sand sources in the District along with auditing of the rivers, with the potential resource.
Regular surveillance
“The illegal and uncontrolled illegal mining leads to loss of revenue to the State and degradation of the environment. Even after all the regulatory procedure and policy being in place, there are instances where illegal mining is taking place. There is a need for regular surveillance of the sand mining,” the document mentioned.
The Ministry has directed that the monitoring agencies like the Mines Department can monitor the sites remotely by using UAVs/drones, which is now a viable option.
“The drone can also be used for reserves estimation, quantity estimation, land use monitoring,” it said while adding that authorities should make use of IT-enabled services and latest technologies for surveillance of the sand mining at each step.
High Court
The Bombay High Court at Goa had last month pulled up the State government for rampant illegal sand mining activities in the State and had issued series of directions including registering of FIRs against those involved in the illegal trade.
The Ministry’s guidelines lay focus on identification and quantification of mineral resource and its optimal utilization. It also speaks about need for a study to ascertain reduction in demand and supply gaps and steps to control instances of illegal mining.
Analysing demand
The Ministry has recommended that a demand and supply of the Riverbed Material through market survey be carried out. In addition to this, future demands for the next 5 years also need to be considered.
While at present, in Goa, there is no specific transportation route defined for ferrying the sand, the Ministry has directed the State government to identify the same considering the maximum production from the mines.
MoEF has further said that the effective monitoring and enforcement require efforts from not only Government agencies but also by consumers and the general public.
“It is the responsibility of every citizen of India to protect the environment and effective monitoring can only be possible when all the stakeholders viz. Centre, States, Leaseholders/Mine Owners, Distributors, Dealers, Transporters and Consumers (bulk & retail) will contribute towards sustainable mining, and comply with all the statutory provisions,” document said.
