Sand quarry in cauvery river in Trichy

TRICHY: Illegal sand mining was singled out as the root cause of water scarcity and protests have been raging for years over it, but come elections, the issue figures nowhere in party manifestos or speeches of leaders. In fact, it is not just the political parties which have pushed the issue of illegal sand mining to the backburner, even the protesters seem to have forgotten it.

Both the AIADMK and DMK have consciously left out the issue from their election manifesto. Ever since the Madurai bench of Madras high court clamped a ban on sand mining and quarries across Cauvery, Kollidam, Thamirabarani, Palar and Amaravathi rivers were shut in August 2018, illegal mining has been thriving with the support of influential people. The anti-social elements now target small rivers in the area as is evident from the cases registered in Trichy region in the past seven months. Curiously enough, the farmers’ associations and activists who had staged protests against the illegal sand mining saying it led to depletion of ground water are now silent.

Tamilaga Vivasayigal Sangam district president M P Chinnadurai pointed out the failure of the farmers’ associations to rake up the issue during the election. “Our focus is restricted to agriculture loan waiver. The sand mining issue should have been on top of our demands,” he said adding that the mysterious disappearance of environmental activist S Mugilan also may have prevented others from taking up the issue.

The protests by activists and farmers were spurred mainly by the excess sand that was being extracted from the rivers. Sustainable sand mining guidelines 2016 say the mining depth should be restricted to 3 metres and the distance from the bank 3 metres or 10 % of the river width whichever was less. However, the miners cared two hoots for it and violated the norms. The negative impact of the decades-long exploitation of the rivers by the sand miners still keeps the people in several areas along the Cauvery, Kollidam rivers running from pillar to post for drinking water.

There were times when loading of sand from the quarries was round-the-clock. The regular movement of about 1,000 sand-laden heavy vehicles every day also posed serious threat to lives and caused damage to roads. Tamil Desa Makkal Munnani state committee member advocate J Kennedy who fought the plundering of river sand in the delta region said, “None of the parties have any idea about an eco-friendly environment. In the context of crony capitalism, there is no bond or bondage with nature,” he said.

One of the co-ordinators of Cauvery River Protection Movement S Vijayan, a close associate of Mugilan, pointed out that PMK which raised the pitch against sand mining was on the side of AIADMK for electoral gains. Trichy district secretary of the pro-CPI Tamilaga Vivasayigal Sangam Ayilai Siva Suriyan said, “The two regimes of AIADMK government destroyed the major portion of the rivers through indiscriminate sand mining. As an ally, we will demand that the DMK regulate sand mining if they come to power,” he said.

