PANJIM: The Goa government has again written to the Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), New Delhi to permit sand mining in the State throughout the year as rivers do not get dried up during non-monsoon period.
When asked whether the MoEF&CC in its Draft Notification to amend Coastal regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification of 2019 has allowed sand mining in Goa throughout the year, Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral said he had again written to Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav to amend the Act so as to permit sand mining since Goa do not have dry rivers. Sand mining is allowed in the Deccan Plateau and in the other States, where rivers dry up after monsoon unlike in Goa where rivers remain wet.
“Since there is a technical glitch we are asking the Centre to amend the Act,” Cabral said adding that coastal States such as Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala have already made representations to the MoEF&CC in this regard,” he said.
“I had taken up this issue with the then Union Minister for MoEF&CC two years ago, to amend the Act so that sand mining can be permitted throughout the year. Now based on scientific study and report by the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Dona Paula we have again written to the Centre to allow extraction of sand getting deposited along the rivers.”
As per the Draft Notification, the sand bars in the inter-tidal areas shall be removed by traditional coastal communities only by manual method (i.e. sand collection in non-mechanised dinghies or small boats using baskets/buckets by human beings) in various coastal states. The State Government may permit such removal of sand in specified time period in a particular area along with specific quantity subject to conditions such as registration of local community persons permitted to remove the sand manually and shall be renewed on yearly basis.
Meanwhile, the Draft Notification to amend the CRZ Notification of 2019 has been published by the MoEF&CC in the Official Gazette of Government of India and is open for public to submit their suggestions and objections.
