Sand mining to resume in four stretches of Goa’s Chapora river

The Goa State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (Goa-SEIAA) approved the proposal to resume legal sand mining in the four stretches of the Chapora River, Goa. Goa-SEIAA has asked for scientific studies of the other two zones in the Chapora. It received applications from the North Goa collector for the six zones in the Chapora for sand mining. It further said that after considering the committee’s recommendations and scrutinising the applications submitted by the project proponent, the authority had decided to carry out the extraction process by manual or traditional method at zones 1, 2, 5 and 6. The extraction of sand in these four zones will take only about 50% capacity for the first three years. Later, the capacity will be decided after completing three years. The proposal for zones 3 and 4 may be referred back to the Goa State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) to carry out scientific studies, Goa-SEIAA said. According to the report by the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa-SEAC had earlier approved resuming the extraction in the four zones in Chapora River. However, it put on some restrictions, including the installation of CCTV to monitor the extraction process. As per the Goa Minor Mineral Concession Rules 1985, extractions of sand were granted yearly, but after the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification, granting permission for sand extraction was restricted from 2011-12. The State Environment Department permitted two different committees under two district collectors to grant permissions for the extraction of sand. In 2013, stretches along the Chapora, Mandovi and Tiracol were identified for sand extraction. In 2017-18, North Goa with 323 permits and South Goa with 11 were issued or renewed, remaining valid till May 2018. Image SourceAlso read: Bihar’s sand mining resumption to be a relief for the state: Janak Ram