Aggressive human intervention, especially indiscriminate sand mining in southern Kerala's major rivers such as the Pampa, the Manimala and the Achankoil, has driven almost all the tributaries of th
Marsh crocodiles have existed since hoary times in the historic Cumbharjua canal, but environmentalists feel a study is needed to find out why they have spread to other places in the state.
The police here have beefed up measures to check unauthorised mining of sand in different parts of the district.
The police action followed reports of large-scale unauthorised mining of sand from rivers to defeat regulation of sand-mining activities under the Kerala Protection of River Banks and Regulation of Removal of Sand Act, 2001. The police here said that they had already intensified steps to nab those who violated the provisions in the Act.
Members in the Legislative Council on Wednesday demanded a foolproof policy for controlling illegal sand mining in the State and conserving rivers for future generations.
Illegal sand mining and use of mechanised boats for extracting sand from river basins posed a threat to the existence of rivers, they contended. JD(S) member M Srinivas said that sand mafia was active in the State and more than 90 per cent of sand in the State was mined illegally, like iron ore in Bellary. But, the government had failed to take action against those involved in the illegal activity.
Illegal mining of sand from riverbeds and banks to feed the construction boom has once again become rampant in Ernakulam district, posing a serious threat to the very survival of rivers.
S. Sitaraman, environmentalist, said that after a brief period when honest police officers had kept a tight leash over the menace by taking stern action against the offenders, the problem had re-emerged in many pockets in the rural areas of the district.
Volunteers of the Theeram Nature Conservation Society, engaged in protecting the endangered Olive Ridley turtles reaching the nesting site on the Kolavipalam-Kotta beach in Kozhikode district for y
District Collector P.G. Thomas has said that a monitoring committee has been constituted as part of the measures aimed at ending unauthorised granite quarrying and sand-mining in the district. He informed this after presiding over a meeting on Friday to discuss the problems posed by such activities.
