The Hindu : Sand mafia runs amuck in Kadapra

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jan 04, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Sand mafia runs amuck in Kadapra

By Radhakrishnan Kuttoor

PARUMALA (Pathanamthitta dt) Jan. 3. The sand mafia is tightening its noose on the small Central Travancore village of Kadapra even as the police, Revenue Department and local body authorities allegedly continue to turn a blind eye to the sad plight of the hapless villagers who plead for the protection of their life and property.

Threats and abuse by the `sand lords' against those who hamper their illegal sand-mining from the Pampa and its banks have been on the rise for the past two days following press reports on the unabated illegal activity in Kadapra grama panchayat.

What raises many an eye-brow is that the authorities still appear to be reluctant to nab criminal elements involved in the unlawful activity though illegal sand-mining continues unabated even on private land right on the bank of the river, thus posing a threat to the river course itself. The Kerala River Bank Protection and Regulation of Sand Mining Act, 2001, prohibits sand-mining from the 10-metre radius of the river banks.

However, for the sand mafia, quarrying sand from the land on the river bank, after removing the upper layer of alluvial soil, is brisk business on the south bank of the river at Parumala in Kadapra panchayat. The Pampa Parirakshana Samithy (PPS) which has been campaigning for the Pampa since the past one decade claims that it had taken the issue to the authorities concerned on several occasions but to no avail. The Mining and Geology Department in the district too appears to be totally in the dark about such a grave issue, though it is supposed to be vigilant against any such illegal activities.

The PPS general secretary N.K. Sukumaran Nair alleges that a toothless official machinery is keeping its eyes closed at a time when the river Pampa dies a slow death due to excessive exploitation by the sand mafia. It is sad that the only concern of the sand `lords' is to make a fast buck, without realising that life would be difficult for them also in a degraded environment with the death of the river system, laments an elder citizen of Parumala.

Mr Nair alleged that the authorities concerned were sitting pretty on the complaints filed by the eco group as well as the villagers, on the plea that they did not have the adequate infrastructure to deal with the issue. "Certain top officials have even `directed' us to give them a `list' of the erring staff with `proof' of who are allegedly on the monthly pay role of the sand mafia. It is ironical that these officials are not taking any action against the officers concerned and staff in whose jurisdiction the illegal activity is very much in progress even in broad day light,'' alleges Mr Nair.

District boundary

The trouble-hit stretch of the river is situated near the geographical boundary of the Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha districts. The engine-fitted

country boats carrying the illegally quarried sand is said to be `safe' once it crosses the Pannayi Bridge and enters Alappuzha district, alleges Mr Nair. Hence it is high time to initiate a joint action of the revenue- police authorities of both the districts with a view to containing the illegal activities in the lower reaches of the Pampa. The Sand Mining Regulation Act strictly prohibits removal of river sand from the lower and middle reaches of the river without conducting any proper studies as it posed the threat of salinity intrusion into the middle and upper reaches of the river.

Police-criminal nexus

A middle-aged woman who stays alone at her house near the Upadeshi kadavu in Parumala tells a strange story of police `indifference' when she asked the police for help over the phone to check sand-mining from the river bank just on the boundary of her 10 cents of land in the dead of night. According to her, the police at the Pulikeezhu station had asked her to "come straight to the station and file a complaint the same night itself.''

``Here, the law-enforcing agents are hand-in-glove with the criminal elements and people are scared to act or protest against the anti-socials. No police officers in the past, whether during the LDF rule or the UDF rule, ever made an attempt to contain the criminal activities in and around Parumala for reasons best known to them,'' laments an elderly couple who did not want to reveal their identity.

A.V. Varghese, the PPS Kadapra unit president, told The Hindu that he had given a written complaint regarding the illegal river-sand mining in Kadapra panchayat to the Revenue Minister on several occasions but to no avail.

Thachamperil Kuruvila Varghese, a PPS worker at Parumala, invited the wrath of the sand mafia when he hosted a meeting of the samithy at his residence a month ago. An irate sand mafia had quarried sand from his boundary using scoop nets (Kollivala) the same night itself, resulting in the caving-in of the river bank. As a result, two palm trees and an arecanut tree were uprooted.

River management fund

Though the district has a `handsome' River Management Fund, the River Management Committee led by the District Collector has taken no steps to utilise it effectively at a time when the authorities lament of paucity of funds for conducting raids by hiring motor boats and the like. Meanwhile, in a controversial deal, the district administration spent over Rs. 45

lakhs for planting saplings on the river banks in an "effort to prevent caving-in'' a year ago.

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