NEW DELHI: A crackdown on illegal sand mining rampant in Uttar Pradesh could soon figure on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s agenda following a letter by Union Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave drawing his attention to the key issue and urging him to counter it by permitting ‘adequate’ sand mining leases.“Adequate number of mining leases with environmental clearances are important to prevent illegal mining,” the minister has written to UP chief minister in a communication dated May 1, 2017.Dave has further underlined the need for “effective monitoring of mined out sand and its movement” to ensure sustainable mining”. He has further exhorted the chief minister to take “urgent steps” to ensure effective and environmental friendly clearances for sand mining.The Union minister has been writing to many CMs on the issue and the first set of letters has been despatched — including to Yogi Adityanath The Centre is also looking at other ways to ensure that the rule of law is implemented to check illegal mining. The absence of legal auction of sand mine leases is identified as the chief factor that allows illegal sand mining to thrive, backed with a strong political and administrative nexus with the sand mafia . Factor this — as per a Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) working paper in 2016, there were no more than 175 legal sand mining leases in a state as vast as Uttar Pradesh. Officials in the government said on condition of anonymity that the number of proper sand mining leases could actually be as little as 50-60 when in the past this used to be amore realistic 1,000-1,500.While the number of mining leases in UP has been shrinking, the quantity of sand being mined has only been increasing as has the construction activity in the state — particularly in Gautam Budh Nagar district adjoining Delhi. Officials in the environment ministry explain that with most states issuing very few leases, legal sand mining is being prevented from taking off while the sand mafia rules the river beds and empties them out indiscriminately.