The killing of 52 -year old Paleram Chauhan from Noida, who dared to speak out against the nefarious sand mining mafia operating in the Yamuna and Hindon river belts, brings to the forefront just how blatant the activities of this underworld have become.
Across India, entire rivers systems including Ganga, Yamuna, Narmada, Krishna, Godavari and Chambal are being destroyed by this mafia, whose earnings are running into thousands of crore. In one Noida district alone, the mining mafia in connivance with politicians and the police, are earning to the tune of over `100 crore a month.
The modus operandi is simple. Sand is being dredged round-the-clock by mechanical dredgers and suction pumps from where it is placed in dumpers and tractor trolleys to be driven unchecked in the dead of night to construction sites located in Delhi and Haryana.
The situation is no better in the other states. Farmers in Guntur in Andhra Pradesh have sought relief from the high court to end mining on the Krishna river bed. While there are no official figures, experts believe that 300 trucks of sand worth `1 crore arrive in Hyderabad every day from the Guntur district. With sand from the Godavari river considered of better quality than that of the Krishna river, it is being sold at an even higher price. Unfortunately, the net result from this mining is that the waters in these rivers is shrinking. The situation along the coastal cities is even worse. Extensive sand dredging around Mumbai has destroyed traditional mangrove forests leaving the city and its neighbouring regions more vulnerable to floods.
Manoj Misra of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan blames the ministry of environment for this present state of affairs. “The Supreme Court in February 2012 banned mining on river beds stating that it could be permitted only after prior clearance from the environment ministry. All states were supposed to renotify their rules in accordance but this has not been done and the ministry has failed to take follow up action,” said Mr Misra.
No state personifies the woes of excessive sand mining than Madhya Pradesh where over 24,000 cases related to illegal mining have been registered in its courts in the last five years. Bhopal-based Right to Information expert Ajay Dubey warns that with one-third of the state is under mining water sources will fast dry out