The 7,000-km long Indian coastline that is home to 30 per cent of the country’s population faces a huge threat from unbridled sand mining and commercial coastal activity.
“In AP, the Nellore and Godavari coast is threatened by these mafias who take away large quantities of vital sea sand by using mechanised devices,” said Prof B.C. Choudhary of the Wildlife Institute of India.
“The sandy stretches of Srikakulam, Vizag, East and West Godavari and the southern region of Nellore are the places where the Indian Rare Earths Ltd is sieving sand for thorium that would fuel nuclear reactors. This has been disastrous for the sensitive marine ecosystem,” he said.
“Also, our nation does not have the ability to handle the ships that pass through the Indian coast. They pollute Indian coastal ecosystems, sometimes end up shipwrecked and the situation is never redressed by the country of these ships’ origin,” said Sumaira Abdul Ali, Awaaz Foundation.