A day after announcing a blanket ban on sand mining on the Narmada riverbed, Madhya Pradesh government set up a committee comprising senior bureaucrats and technical experts to recommend 'scientific mining'. The committee headed by State Mining and Industries Minister Rajendra Shukla will submit its initial report in six months.

The panel will recommend the process and criterion for scientific mining from the riverbed and suggest modern techniques for the manufacturing of sand and its transparent marketing. The committee comprises additional chief secretary (ACS), energy and happiness department, Iqbal Singh Bains, ACS or a representative from Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA), principal secretary of urban development and environment, water resource department and secretary mining.

Another five experts, such as Prof Navin Sharma of IIT Roorkee, Prof Abhijeet Mukherjee and Prof K Pathak of IIT Kharagpur, Prof A K Gosai of IIT New Delhi and Prof Pradip Shrivastava, head, Environment Science department, Barkatullah University, Bhopal, are also expected to be included.

"This is for the first time ever when a state government has formed a committee to decide on scientific ways of mining sand to conserve a river and its environment. The committee will suggest ways to conduct mining without damaging the environment," said mining secretary Manohar Dubey.

The ban on mining would result in an estimated annual loss of Rs 200 crore to the state exchequer. But, it would ensure safety to the lifeline of the state and control the ecological imbalance.

"This is a remarkable decision taken by chief minister Chouhan, which has gone a step further to conserve the environment and protect the sacred river Narmada. We have identified some experts to conduct a detailed study on mining and would likely take a decision by September or October'', mining minister Shukla told the media.

He said the decision to ban the use of machines for sand mining in other rivers would also help in protecting and conserving ecology of these rivers and water bodies.

Within a day of the mining ban coming into force, the price of sand has shot up in Bhopal, sending jitters through the real estate developers and those building houses. Sources say that sand suppliers are holding on to the stocks in anticipation of higher prices in the coming days. Sand mining, whether legal or illegal, stops during the monsoon, which is about three weeks away because the river banks get flooded and work becomes dangerous. Usually, suppliers stock up for about four months of the rainy season. But with the Narmada ban in place, there's no idea of where the rates will be a fortnight from now.

Suppliers say sand was already selling at Rs. 39 per cubic feet on Tuesday, a 15% jump from the price a day earlier. This could shoot up to Rs 45-48 per in the coming days, they said, pushing up the price of a truckload of sand (300 cubic feet) to Rs 14,400 from around Rs 11,000 now.

A dealer said supply in truck loads has been stopped and sand was now being sold in tractor trolleys. One trolley of sand that went for Rs 3,000 till Monday will now cost Rs 4,000. Wasiq Hussain, president of the Bhopal chapter of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India, said the ban is going to hit the ongoing construction projects badly.

Meanwhile, a day after the government banned mechanised sand mining in all rivers of the state, heavy earth moving machines were seen digging out sand from Ken River in Chattarpur district. The action rubbed salt on the wounds of Hinota villagers, who have been sitting on a dharna for the past one week to stop illegal sand mining in the river. The villagers have now threatened to hold a jal satyagrah from May 25.

On May 23 morning, heavy earthmoving machines were seen digging out sand both in Hinota and Baghari sand mines of the district bordering Uttar Pradesh. "Armed sand mafia men terrorise villagers, if they object. Rows of trucks loaded with sand can be seen ready to move out on the interstate border some 12km from the mines with pit passes issued after loading. Rules are violated but nobody is bothered", alleged Jhallu Singh, sarpanch of Baghari. He along with Sunita Singh, sarpanch of Hinota village, had met the district collector and submitted a memorandum to check illegal mining.

Sunita Singh said the entire area is covered with dust because of mechanised mining and transportation of sand by trucks and dumpers. "They are creating air pollution leading to breathing problems among the villagers", she said.

The sand mines in the area are spread across Panna and Chattarpur districts. Though the contract for mining belongs to a Jabalpur-based miner, people from UP also operate and trucks loaded with the sand are dispatched to cities like Lucknow, Kanpur, Raibareli and Faizabad, the villagers alleged.

According to villagers, the sand mafia has been operating round the clock. Although initially police ignored complaints, the local administration had tried to intervene to stop the illegal mining, but in vain. Villagers have been regularly getting ‘threats’ from the mafia. The collector, however, denied any mechanised mining and said officials have been strictly told to prevent such operations. (IPA Service)