Water tables have dropped dramatically and a land once known for its plentiful rice harvest now faces. Abandoned homes, deserted school, heaps of sand, a lone temple and dried up mangroves are the remnants of a once green ponmana village under the coastal alappad panchayat in kollam district in southern kerala where locals are up in arms against beach sand mining, blaming it for sea erosion eating up their land. Department of mining and geology, government of kerala environmental clearance for small minor mineral quarries. Environmental problems of kerala linkedin slideshare. Economic analysis of the sand mining in bharathapuzha river, sand mining is made legal by the government through auctioning and permit system. Padmalal, head of the environmental sciences division, ntinal center for earth science studioes, this kind of mindless mining has created big problems to the. Environment ministry stops clearance to mining of beach. Apart from producing rutilegrade titanium dioxide pigment for various types of industries, it also produces other products like ilmenite, rutile, zircon, sillimanite. Many lives were lost in those manmade depthsperiyar river. Thrissur was entrusted with the task of sand auditing in karuvannur river, vide go ms no. It has mineral processing plants at tamilnadu, kerala, and odisha, rare earths division at alwaye, kerala and research center at kollam, kerala. Alappad kerala, jan 11 pti abandoned homes, deserted school, heaps of sand, a lone temple and dried up mangroves. However, mining activities on large scale are confined mainly to a few minerals heavy mineral sands, china clay and to a lesser extent limestonelimeshell, silica sand and granite. Up to 300 trucks a day take their fill of sand at a mine on the sone river in bihar state.
Its operations comprise mining, mineral separation, synthetic rutile and pigmentproduction plants. Badger mining corporation superior by nature, quality by. The case is same with all other rivers and their tributaries. Mining of sand manifold higher than natural replenishments leads to severe damages to river systems. As floods in all major rivers made sand mining difficult, the government has resolved to concentrate on streams of 1st to 3rd order along with decasting of patta lands to ease the shortage. District survey report upload pdf only and attach it as annexuredocument of district. Instream sand mining can damage private and public properties as well as aquatic habitats. A tale of lost land to mineral sand mining however, an official of the ire, when contacted, said the company was following all mining norms. Download fulltext pdf impact of river sand mining on the groundwater regime in kerala an overview conference paper pdf available august 2014 with 1,441 reads. The present paper deals with the impact of sand mining on the physical and biological environments of river systems of kerala.
The various mining quarrying activities taking place in the local bodies include sand mining from active channels and over bank areas, soil quarrying, hard rock mining, laterite mining. Sand is often used in manufacturing, for example as an abrasive or in concrete. Sand mining is a coastal activity referring to the process of the actual removal of sand from. While in kerala in august, researching the environmental factors behind recent floods, i found that sand is dredged from local rivers. Minerals resources department of mining and geology. Mahima groups is the only license holder to export river sand from odisha state to any world safe ports awsp. Illegal sand mining its effect on ecology and environment. Inside the deadly world of indias sand mining mafia. The report, dated january 11, mentioned about kavya s, a class 12 student who made the video about the environmental impact of the decadeslong black sand mining activity in her village alappad. Environmental issues of kerala coastal erosion in kerala almost 30% of the total population lives in coastal areas. The indiscriminate mining has even affected the stability of sree sankara bridge at kaladay according to d. Telanganas sand mining policy unscientific, says report.
The hidden environmental toll of mining the worlds sand. Auctioning is done at 48 kadavus by village panchayats and permit is given by 10 government centers. Alappadthiruvananthapuram, jan 12 pti the kerala government saturday expressed willingness to hold conciliatory talks on the alappad mining issue but the protest council said it. They claim hamlet after hamlet kept disappearing from the map due. Abstract indiscriminate mining of construction grade sand from the rivers of kerala impose intense pressure on these life support systems. The government will increase these from 70 to 80 by. Average legal mining allowed through auctioning at 48 kadavus is 33, 570 loads. Abandoned homes, deserted school, heaps of sand, a lone temple and dried up mangroves.
Badger mining corporation bmc is committed to producing high quality industrial silica sand products, operating our facilities in an environmentally responsible manner, ensuring the health and wellness of our associates and of the communities in which we operate. Indias construction boom is stripping large volumes of sand, a vital ingredient in concrete, from its. When the sand is removed from the river belt, it reduces the availability of water in the well and canals near to revers because of water table down. There is a market for heavy minerals such as ilmenite, rutile, leucoxene, garnet, monazite, zircon and sillimanite, found in beach sand. Kerala minerals and metals ltd is an integrated titanium dioxide manufacturing public sector undertaking in kollam, kerala, india. Ap cabinet gives nod for merger of apsrtc with state govt.
Rivers in kerala facing threat from sand mining and. It leads to changes in river channel form, physical habitats and food webs. Sand mining restricted to streams due to floods the hindu. It is also the least regulated, and quite possibly the most corrupt and environmentally destructive. Instream sand mining is common practice becaa use the mining locations are usually near the markets or along the transportation route, hence reducing transportation costs.
The mining process not only intercepts movement of sediments along the river channels, but disturbs the sediment balance established. Kerala government ready for talks, protesters refuse published. Sand mining is the worlds largest mining endeavor, responsible for 85 percent of all mineral extraction. We can supply river sand coarse for construction suitable for buildings and readymix concrete 40000 mt x 3 per month. Sand mining is a serious threat to most of the rivers in kerala but the case is more visible in periyar river. It is also used on icy and snowy roads usually mixed with salt, to lower the melting point temperature, on the road surface. K karimanal mineral beach sand mining in the alappuzha coast of kerala a peoples perspective in martin j. Economic analysis of sand mining in bharathapuzha river. It is sure that all these activities ultimately end up in the degradation of the rivers. In malaysia, main source the of sand is from instream mining.
In fact, heavy mineral sand and china clay contribute more than 90% of the total value of mineral production in the state. The kerala protection of river banks and regulation of. Sand mining revives in periyar as sandbanks emerge post. Sand mining also adds to the water pollution problems in the rivers, especially in the urbanized areas. Despite numerous prohibitions and regulations, sand mining continues rapidly on the riverbed of the bharathapuzha. Beach of the month photo of the month plastic pollution sand wars united nationsgea sand mining detrimental effects the worlds beaches coastal care junior. Similarly river bharathapuzha in kerala has become a victim of indiscriminate sand mining. Government has set up 41 stock points in districts. These are the remnants of a once green ponmana village under the coastal alappad panchayat in kollam district in southern kerala where locals are up in arms against beach sand mining, blaming it for sea erosion eating up their lands. How a 17 year allapad girl became anti sand mining icon february 17, 2019 sandrp kerala the gods own country is in strong grip of unsustainable sand mining which has been happening for decades in the rivers and coastal areas of the state. Kerala government ready for talks, protesters refuse industries minister e p jayarajan said the ministry will look into the issues and take a decision accordingly. Illegal sand mining in kochi river sand mining and export. O 158p311rd impacts of river sand mining mining from, within or near a river bed has a direct impact on the streams physical characteristics, such as channel geometry, bed elevation, substratum composition and.
Leading river sand mining and export company mahima groups is the only license holder to export river sand from odisha state to any world safe ports awsp. Approved mine plan upload pdf only and attach it as annexuredocument of mine plan 3. Andhra pradesh mining development corporation will undertake sand mining and transport. Sand wars united nationsgea sand mining detrimental effects the worlds beaches coastal care junior nasa fly along with nasas fleet of earth science missions and observe earth from a global perspective in an immersive, 3d environment. The sand and coated sand products produced by bmc are used in a variety of. The brazen sand theft from the river created deadly pits in the periyar river.