Kerala: River sand mining to be revived

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Forest Department has decided to revive the project to mine sand from rivers within the forests, and sell it as reasonable costs for construction purposes. This was announced by forest minister K. Raju in the Assembly on Wednesday.  The earlier project, christened ‘Kalavara’, was carried out with the support of the State Nirmithi Kendra. It had wound up by 2012 after the Kalavara Advisory Committee failed to convene and authorise Vana Samrakshana Samithis (VSSs) to mine sand from riverbeds.

The minister said that the Centre had earlier granted environmental clearance for the sand mining project in 22 riverbanks in Thiruvananthapuram, Thenmala and Ranni forest divisions. “In the first phase, sand will be dredged from Vamanapuram, Karamana, Shankili, Chittar and Kulathupuzha rivers,” the minister said. Earlier, the sand dredged was transported to ‘depots’ within forest divisions to be sold to buyers. The forest minister said that the new depots had not yet been identified as the sand audit was still going on. The dredging will be carried out by VSSs functioning within the forest areas.

When ‘Kalavara’ project was operational, a time when sand for construction purposes costs more than Rs .35,000 a load in the open market, the sand mined under the project was supplied through ‘Kalavara’ depots at a fair price of Rs 5,350 to those in the BPL category and at the rate of Rs 13,350 to those in the APL category. The profit from the project will be distributed among the VSSs. Sources said there was enough sand in riverbeds waiting to be dredged. Frequent landslips inside forest areas has caused large deposits of sand to accumulate at the base, choking the flow of over and even diverting its course.