Sand mafia that is gobbling up the Cauvery

The sand mafia, with political connections at the highest levels and in alleged connivance with local officials, is working overtime in the region indiscriminately plundering sand and selling it for hefty amounts. It is a Rs 3,000 crore a year business from 60 sand quarries located across 11 districts through which the Cauvery flows. The miners either indiscriminately dig loads of sand without permission from the Public Works Department or obtain permits for certain quantity of sand but tend to scoop more than the permitted level. 

One can witness a flurry of activities along the banks of Cauvery in Tiruchy and Karur districts with lorries carrying sand in a feverish pace.

A number of trucks loaded with sand can be seen emerging from the river banks in villages like Kattalai, Vangal, Marudhur, Vathiyam, Thimmachimpuram and Lalapet in Karur district and Anbil, Nochium, Thiruvengimalai, Ayyampalayam, Musiri, Varadharajapuram, Thottiyam, Thiruvalarsolai and Panayapuram in Tiruchy district. “At the Kadambakurichi quarry in Karur, permission was given to dig up to 800 metre length and 300 metre width, but they have gone beyond two kilometres in length. Similarly, in Nanjaikottai in Karur, the actual permission was for 600 metre in length and 400 metre in width, but they have already dug up to 3.25 km in length and 2 km in width to 20 feet in depth,” S Mugilan, Coordinator of Tamil Nadu Environmental Protection Movement told DTNext.

Mugilan, who has been fighting for the protection of the Cauvery along with the public for the past few years, further said, a total of 90,000 loads of sand has been mined and transported across the state each day and 30,000 loads of sand has been loaded from the Cauvery basin itself. “The lorries are allowed to carry only three units (1 unit = 1 cubic metre) but they transport seven to 10 units in each lorry. Given that how much quantity has been dug, it is just unimaginable,” Mugilan said. 

He said that there are around 60 sand quarries as per the government record in the Cauvery, but an additional 100 quarries are functioning illegally. “When the villagers opposed the mining, the sand mafia used to silence them with a one-time hefty payment,” Mugilan added. 

Though, officials reel out statistics of persons penalised and vehicles seized for violating the norms, the actions seem to be superficial. Miners in Karur enjoy a bonanza of sand scooping from the Amaravathy river too, apart from the Cauvery. The villagers, who watch helplessly as the sand bed is being stripped, are suffering the adverse impacts. They claim that agriculture is no longer feasible in the districts. “In few years this place would resemble a desert,” a farmer from Kulithalai said. The ground water level has fallen drastically in the last decade, he pointed out.

The sand, priced around Rs 10,000 for three units in Tamil Nadu, is being sold up to Rs 30,000 in Kerala. There are even boards in front of sand depots in Kerala stating that ‘Cauvery sand’ is available. ‘Sand quarried illegally from the Cauvery belt are smuggled to Kerala, besides being sold at exorbitant rates in Coimbatore, Namakkal and Dindigul districts another activist said.