Rivers facing existential crisis
Pahanbarri was a small village of 3000 people in Hoshangabad district. Situated
on the bank of Tawa river, the 200-year old village was known for its fertile
soil. Tawa is a tributary of the Narmada. On August 1 last year, the river
changed its course, broke its bank and entered the village. A thick layer of
sand, up to four feet in height enveloped the thriving paddy and vegetables
sown in 500 acres of its agricultural land. About 100 acres of land which were
fields earlier, is a part of the river now.
Residents of Pahanbarri submitted a memorandum to the district authorities
to relocate them completely as there is no hope of a return to normalcy. They
say that sand mining in Maroda village, upstream of Pahanbarri along the
Tawa, has caused this damage. If the mining continues, they will have to face
more instances of flooding like this.
This is just one example of devastation the rampant sand mining has been
causing to the rivers and land in the state. Like Tawa, a dozen of other
tributaries of the Narmada river are facing existential crisis. Sand mining has
reduced half a dozen tributaries of Narmada in Narsinghpur district into muddy
culverts. Two decades ago, rivers such as Shakkar, Sher, Sitarewa, Dudhi,
Umar, Barureva, Pandajhir, Majha and Hiran used to flow majestically. There
riverbeds would be used to produce plenty of water melons and muskmelon
(Kharbuja). The sand mafias’ insatiable greed has almost killed the rivers. The
three-tier layers that shored the rivers have been destroyed due to illegal
mining. Narmada, a lifeline of Madhya Pradesh, is also pockmarked at many
places along its 1000-km course through the state with shallow swamps.
Sindh river in Gwalior-Chambal region is probably the most heinously raped
river. On the banks of the river in Chandpur and Raipur ghats, sands worth
billions of rupees has been dredged with the help of submarines and boats.
The mafias have drilled as deep as 70 to 80 ft in the river to dredge sand.
Specially built crude submarines are brought from UP for drilling in the river.
Mafias are not afraid of using even dynamites to break stones in the rivers.
Environmentalists say the explosions by dynamites have caused massive
damage to Narmada, Chambal, Betwa, Kel and Banganga rivers. The stone
quarrying has not only disturbed course of the rivers but has also damaged
biodiversity along the banks. This is because mafias get trees felled along the
rivers. The felled trees are used as wood to heat the stones on the riverbeds.
The heating softens stones and render them easier to break. Quarrying along
the Son river in the Vindhya region has seriously endangered the Ghriyal
sanctuary.
Environmentalist Dr Rajiv Chouhan of the For Conservation of Nature says
rampant sand mining has posed grave danger to environment. If this continues
unchecked, rivers will die. Sand acts as filter in a river. If sand is dredged out
uncontrollably, this will not only cause fall in the water level but also pollution
of the rivers.
Expressing concern over illegal sand mining from Narmada riverbed, the
central bench of the National Green Tribunal has asked the ministry of
environment and forests (MoEF) to examine the impact on rivers in the last ten
years.
The bench’s directions came while hearing a petition filed by and NGO
'Paryavaran & Manav Sanrakshan Samiti' in August last year.
“ The MoEF must come forward with a practical policy taking into account the
present nature and the pace at which the development is taking place and also
taking into account the negative impact it is going to have on the ecology of
various rivers as sand is generally extracted from the river bed,” the order
stated.
The bench also directed the state government to file an affidavit regarding how
many cases had been registered against those persons on whose behalf
unauthorised extraction or transportation of mineral had been carried out in
MP.
Pahanbarri was a small village of 3000 people in Hoshangabad district. Situated
on the bank of Tawa river, the 200-year old village was known for its fertile
soil. Tawa is a tributary of the Narmada. On August 1 last year, the river
changed its course, broke its bank and entered the village. A thick layer of
sand, up to four feet in height enveloped the thriving paddy and vegetables
sown in 500 acres of its agricultural land. About 100 acres of land which were
fields earlier, is a part of the river now.
Residents of Pahanbarri submitted a memorandum to the district authorities
to relocate them completely as there is no hope of a return to normalcy. They
say that sand mining in Maroda village, upstream of Pahanbarri along the
Tawa, has caused this damage. If the mining continues, they will have to face
more instances of flooding like this.
This is just one example of devastation the rampant sand mining has been
causing to the rivers and land in the state. Like Tawa, a dozen of other
tributaries of the Narmada river are facing existential crisis. Sand mining has
reduced half a dozen tributaries of Narmada in Narsinghpur district into muddy
culverts. Two decades ago, rivers such as Shakkar, Sher, Sitarewa, Dudhi,
Umar, Barureva, Pandajhir, Majha and Hiran used to flow majestically. There
riverbeds would be used to produce plenty of water melons and muskmelon
(Kharbuja). The sand mafias’ insatiable greed has almost killed the rivers. The
three-tier layers that shored the rivers have been destroyed due to illegal
mining. Narmada, a lifeline of Madhya Pradesh, is also pockmarked at many
places along its 1000-km course through the state with shallow swamps.
Sindh river in Gwalior-Chambal region is probably the most heinously raped
river. On the banks of the river in Chandpur and Raipur ghats, sands worth
billions of rupees has been dredged with the help of submarines and boats.
The mafias have drilled as deep as 70 to 80 ft in the river to dredge sand.
Specially built crude submarines are brought from UP for drilling in the river.
Mafias are not afraid of using even dynamites to break stones in the rivers.
Environmentalists say the explosions by dynamites have caused massive
damage to Narmada, Chambal, Betwa, Kel and Banganga rivers. The stone
quarrying has not only disturbed course of the rivers but has also damaged
biodiversity along the banks. This is because mafias get trees felled along the
rivers. The felled trees are used as wood to heat the stones on the riverbeds.
The heating softens stones and render them easier to break. Quarrying along
the Son river in the Vindhya region has seriously endangered the Ghriyal
sanctuary.
Environmentalist Dr Rajiv Chouhan of the For Conservation of Nature says
rampant sand mining has posed grave danger to environment. If this continues
unchecked, rivers will die. Sand acts as filter in a river. If sand is dredged out
uncontrollably, this will not only cause fall in the water level but also pollution
of the rivers.
Expressing concern over illegal sand mining from Narmada riverbed, the
central bench of the National Green Tribunal has asked the ministry of
environment and forests (MoEF) to examine the impact on rivers in the last ten
years.
The bench’s directions came while hearing a petition filed by and NGO
'Paryavaran & Manav Sanrakshan Samiti' in August last year.
“ The MoEF must come forward with a practical policy taking into account the
present nature and the pace at which the development is taking place and also
taking into account the negative impact it is going to have on the ecology of
various rivers as sand is generally extracted from the river bed,” the order
stated.
The bench also directed the state government to file an affidavit regarding how
many cases had been registered against those persons on whose behalf
unauthorised extraction or transportation of mineral had been carried out in
MP.
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