While there is so much of brouhaha over sand quarrying, “there is quite a lot sand available untapped in the water spread area of Mettur Dam,” says N. Natarajan, former Superintending Engineer, Public Works Department, and author of two books on the Cauvery. This would enormously benefit the dam itself, he asserts.

“The difference between removing sand from the river and the water spread area is that the holding capacity of the river would be lost once sand is removed from the river. One cubic foot of sand can hold three cubic feet of water. But when sand and silt are removed from the water spread area, more water could be accommodated,,” he explains. Mettur Dam has a water spread area of about 153 sq km.

Chandigarh: With the Punjab and Haryana High Court banning sand mining in 241 quarries of less than five hectares across the state, the prices of minor minerals have rocketed.

In the grievance meet held here on Friday, Collector Ajay Yadav assured farmers that polluting units that do not conform to Zero Liquidity Discharge norms would be shut down.

Addressing farmers’ grievances, he said, “We will take measures to close down the factories discharging effluents into Palar and not complying with zero liquid discharge. I have discussed this with the chairman of Pollution Control Board.”

Ashtamudi Lake was declared a wetland of global import 10 years ago

On August 19, 2012, it will be 10 years since the brackish water Ashtamudi Lake with eight creeks was declared a Ramsar site by designating it as a wetland of international importance. The lake was recommended by the Ramsar Convention’s partner organisations as a wetland of 61.4 sq km. And the lake entered the Ramsar list as site number 1,204.

More than 5-year-old quarries banned in some districts

It may take a few months for authorities to open new sand quarries on the Cauvery-Coleroon river basin in the wake of the recent order of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court. One of the decisions taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Saturday was that sites for new quarries should be identified and approval from the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) secured.

Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee has alleged that the illegal mining business in the state is still going on and the mining mafia has got the patronage of the influential persons in the ruling par

All seven functioning quarries ordered to be closed in Karur district

Sand quarries in the river Cauvery that are more than five years old have remained shut since Saturday following the Madras High Court directive. Through Friday night, vehicles awaiting their turn to load sand were hurriedly cleared and excavators at the quarries withdrawn on orders from PWD officials. Field officials visited the quarries on Saturday and erected road blocks and dug trenches across the entrance to prevent truck movement.

Chandigarh: The district administration of Nawanshahr today swung into action to check illegal mining in the Sutlej riverbed. All mining activity in the riverbed has come to a halt.

AHMEDABAD: Residents of Dedasan and Chailpur villages in Kheralu taluka have taken to the streets, protesting the indiscriminate sand mining along the Sabarmati river. The river's width has increased by almost 50 feet due to the illegal mining activity in the last few months.

The residents have found that the mining activities were illegal and that the village panchayat too was not informed of the mining contract by the state government. Though the villagers had registered police complaints, the illegal activities continued unabated.