Ban Lifted on Sand Mining in Non-Coastal Regulation Zone Areas
In view of the acute shortage of sand for construction purposes in the state, the ministry of environment and forests recently lifted the moratorium on sand mining in non-coastal regulation zone areas of Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri districts for a period of two years.
Shortage of sand in the state has risen to 40 per cent in the last one and half years. This was hampering construction of affordable houses, say officials of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (Credai), Pune.
The state government intimated the ministry of environment and forests about this shortage. Sanjay Deshpande, chairman of the environment committee of Credai, Pune, said the shortage was a result of lack of proper licensing process. Besides the increasing gap in demand and supply also helped prices shoot up. The prices that were hovering around Rs 3,000 per brass a year back, have gone up to Rs 5,000 and above, Deshpande said.
Deshpande said that smaller and affordable house projects are the worst affected. A builder cannot decide the future price and is quoting higher price for his finished product. The government should help ease the situation by fixing the price for sand, he said.
“At present, there is no policy for sand mining and there is a need to streamline the licence process and make it transparent. As the licence is issued yearly, the process should be sped up,” he said.
Deshpande said that lifting the moratorium will help as the river bed sand in non-coastal regulation zone is most useful for the construction industry. But the licence should also be issued at a proper time, he said adding, for example, if it is issued in the month of June it is of no use since one has to wait for summer to start mining.
The ministry of environment and forest had issued a moratorium dated August 16, 2010, and there were subsequent amendments regarding extension of the moratorium up to June 30, 2011, on consideration of projects from these two districts under the environmental impact assessment, 2006, received by the ministry and by the Maharashtra State Environment Impact Assessment Authority.
However, lifting of moratorium is subject to compliance with environmental and forestry requirements. It includes simultaneously undertaking environmental mitigation measures and constitution of state level monitoring committee having inter-alia independent local experts, as also representatives of departments concerned, institutions and non governmental organisations (NGOs) for avoiding violation and to ensure compliance of environmental requirements.
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