Lok Sabha Question No. 4154 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-12-13
Subject: Illegal Sand Mining from Rivers
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Locket Chatterjee

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4154.

TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.12.2019

## 4154. MS. LOCKET CHATTERJEE

Will  the  Minister  of  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND  CLIMATE  CHANGE  be  pleased  to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware that illegal sand mining from rivers is rampant in West Bengal;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with its environmental effects; and
- (c) the corrective measures taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)

- (a): Yes Sir.
- (b): Illegal mining is observed in certain stretches near at West Bengal- Odisha border of Rivers SubarnarekhaThe effects of sand and gravel mining are as follows:
- I. Extraction  of  bed  material  in  excess  of  replenishment  by  transport  from  upstream causes the bed to lower (degrade) upstream and downstream of the site of removal.
- II. In-stream habitat is impacted by increase in river gradient, suspended load, sediment transport and sediment deposition. Excessive sediment deposition for replenishment increases turbidity which prevents penetration of light required for photosynthesis and reduces food availability of aquatic fauna.
- III. Riparian  habitat  including  vegetative  cover  on  and  adjacent  to  the  river  banks  it controls  erosion,  provide  nutrient  inputs  into  the  stream  and  prevents  intrusion  of pollutants in the stream through runoff. Bank erosion and change of morphology of the river can destroy the riparian vegetative cover.
- IV. Bed degradation are responsible for channel shifting, causing loss of properties and degradation of landscape, it can also undermine bridge supports, pipe lines or other structures.
- V. Degradation  may  change  the  morphology  of  the  river  bed,  which  constitutes  one aspect of the aquatic habitat.
- VI. Degradation  can  deplete  the  entire  depth  of  gravelly  bed  material,  exposing  other substrates  that  may  underlie  the  gravel,  which  could  in  turn  affect  the  quality  of aquatic habitat. Lowering of ground water table in the flood plain because of lowering

of  riverbed  level  as  well  as  river  water  level  takes  place  because  of  extraction  and draining out of excessive ground water from the adjacent areas. So, if a floodplain aquifer  drains  to  the  stream,  groundwater  levels  can  be  lowered  as  a  result  of  bed degradation.

- VII. Lowering of the water table can destroy riparian vegetation.
- VIII. Excessive pumping of ground water in the process of mining in abandoned channels depletes  ground water causing scarcity of irrigation and drinking water. In extreme cases it may create ground fissures and subsidence in adjacent areas.
- IX. Flooding is reduced as bed elevations and flood heights decrease, reducing hazard for human occupancy of floodplains and the possibility of damage to engineering works.
- X. The supply of overbank sediments to floodplains is reduced as flood heights decrease.
- XI. An un-scientific and unregulated sand and gravel mining tends to increase channel bankscouring  and  erosion.  This  causes  a  large  degree  of  meandering  of  rivers  and sometimes it could be in kms.
- XII. Rapid  bed  degradation  may  induce  bank  collapse  and  erosion  by  increasing  the heights of banks.
- XIII. Polluting ground water by reducing the thickness of the filter material especially if mining is taking place at top of recharge fissures.
- XIV. Choking of sand layer which acts as filter for ingress of ground water from river by dumping  of  finer  material,  compaction  of  filter  zone  due  to  movement  of  heavy vehicles. It also reduces the permeability and porosity of the filter material.
- XV. Removal  of  gravel  from  bars  may  cause  downstream  bars to erode if they subsequently  receive  less  bed  material  than  is  carried  downstream  from  them  by fluvial transport.
- XVI. Ecological effects on bird nesting, fish migration, angling, etc.
- XVII. Indiscrete mining activities lead to increased concentration of suspended sediment in the river which in turn causes siltation of water resources projects.
- XVIII. Un-scientific  and  unregulated  sand  and  gravel  mining  leads  to  the  severe  health hazards like air quality degradation and dust fog.
- XIX. Direct destruction from heavy equipment operation; discharges from equipment and refueling.
- XX. Biosecurity and pest risks.
- XXI. Impacts on coastal processes.

(c)Sand mining is regulated in terms of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation Act,  1957  [MMDR  Act]  and  the  Mineral  Concession  Rule  framed  by  the  concerned  State Governments.The State Government is empowered to formulate the rules for preventing illegal mining,  transportation  and  storage  of  minerals  (including  sand)  by  exercising  the  powers conferred by section 23(C) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.

Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change  (MoEF&CC)  has  notified  the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006, as amended from time to time, under the  Environment  (Protection)  Act,  1986  which  deals  with  the  process  to  grant  Environmental Clearance to ensure mining  are carried out with appropriate  environmental safeguards. Further,MoEF&CC has issued Sustainable Sand Mining Management Guidelines 2016, which inter-alia,  emphasizes  the  procedure  for  monitoring  of  sand  /river  bed  mining  w.r.t.  the monitoring  of  the  mined  out  material  which  is  key  to  the  successful  implementation  of sustainable Environment Management Plan. So use of IT and IT enabled services for effective monitoring along with process reengineering has been made a part of the notification.  The gist of monitoring mechanism, inter-alia, are (i) The movement of sand is controlled through Transit Permit.  The  security  feature  of  Transit  Permit  should  be  as  Printed  on  IBA  approved  MICR paper; Unique Barcode; Unique QR code; Fugitive Ink Background; Invisible Ink Mark; Void Pantograph and Watermark; (ii) Use of IT and IT enabled services for effective monitoring of the quantity  of  mined  out  material  and  transportation  along  with  process  reengineering  has  been made a part of the Notification; (iii) Stringent Monitoring of movement of mined out material from source to destination using Information Technology tools: bar coding, SMS etc. Till date there is no authentic data on how much sand is being mined, this system will generate real time data on mined out sand; and (iv) The route of vehicle from source to destination shall be tracked through the system using check points, Radio-frequency identification (RFID) Tags, and Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking.

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