The apex court had mandated environmental clearance from the Centre for mining minor minerals that includes sand last year. Uttar Pradesh where IAS officer Durga Shakti got suspended after taking on politicians involved in sand mining is not the only state to bypass the court order. Reports by M Suchitra from Andhra Pradesh, Alok Gupta from Bihar and Aparna Pallavi and Akshay Deshmane from Maharashtra
Author:M Suchitra, Alok Gupta, Aparna Pallavi, Akshay Deshmane
It seems the Andhra Pradesh government has not taken seriously the Supreme Court&ls’s directions on sand mining. Large-scale illegal sand mining is reported from at least seven districts–Guntur, Krishna, Khammam, Waranagal, Srikakulam and East and West Godavari district
The world is sitting over a landfill of possible substitutes for sand
Author: Avikal Somvanshi
Everyone seems to be getting something constructed (directly or indirectly) nowadays. My government, my boss, my neighbour, my father, in fact my laundry guy is also getting his house made in his village in north Bihar. Irrespective of location, scale or type, concrete is the base of all the construction activity in the nation. In fact, concrete is the second most consumed material after water, with nearly three tonnes used annually for each person on the planet.
Green tribunal reiterates apex court orcer in the wake of controversy over suspension of IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal
Author: Anupam Chakravartty
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) issued a restraint order against all sand mining activity being carried out across the country without environmental clearance. The order was passed in the light of the recent controversy surrounding the suspension of IAS officer posted as sub divisional magistrate (SDM) in Greater Noida in Gautam Buddh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh after she cracked down on the mining mafia. While passing the order, NGT reaffirmed the Supreme Court’s order last year which banned any kind of mining of minor minerals, including sand, without environmental clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.
Legal or illegal, sand is mined without restraint in most parts of the country. Some states where illegal mining has been widely reported
Author: Kumar Sambhav Shrivastava, Anupam Chakravartty to Punjab, M Suchitra, Ashwin Aghor
Rivers Ambika, Purna, Kaveri, Tapi and Khapra are severely affected by illegal sand mining. It is forming cavities in the riverbed and accelerating water salinity. This is resulting in diminishing agricultural produce
Construction has grown over the years, yet there is no official figure on how much sand the country requires or produces
Author: Kumar Sambhav Shrivastava, Anupam Chakravartty to Punjab, M Suchitra, Ashwin Aghor
India has the world’s third largest construction business after China and the US. Malls, houses, offices and flyovers have sprung all over. The 12th Five Year Plan projects an investment of 10 per cent of the national GDP, or Rs 45 trillion, in infrastructure. Is the massive scale of sand mining that India has seen in the past few years a direct consequence of its growth?
Greater Noida village refutes Uttar Pradesh government's claim that Durga Shakti Nagpal's actions created communal tension
Author: Soma Basu
The Uttar Pradesh government claims that it suspended Greater Noida Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Durga Shakti Nagpal because it was an "administrative compulsion to ease communal tension". But the government’s claim is being refuted by none other than the residents of the village where chief minister Akhilesh Yadav feared trouble.
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