Gone are the days when Mumbaikars could afford the luxury of dusting their homes every alternate day. Mumbai’s air quality has sharply worsened in the past week, surpassing Delhi’s winter smog levels, mainly due to increased construction activities.
Even as I compose this report from home, my laptop’s keyboard had to be wiped clean twice due to the persistent dust. The windows have remained shut for a week due to the ongoing building construction activity 50 meters away from my house along with the on-going metro construction.
This surge in construction activities comes at a time when the Maharashtra government has rolled out a new sand mining policy in 2023.
As per the policy, the government will have the exclusive control over mining of the sand and its sale only through their depots. Anticipated to reduce sand prices and construction costs, the move targets illegal extraction and black-market sales. But how does it affect us and what exactly is sand mining?
What is sand? And why can’t cities do without it?
In simple words: sand is a mineral, however, a minor one. Major minerals such as coal, iron ore, and petroleum, are characterized by their higher economic value. In contrast, minor minerals, like sand, though important for construction, have relatively lower economic value (in the eyes of the world governments).
Thus, the extraction of sand from water bodies is subject to less stringent regulations, making it the second most used (read exploited) natural resource after water.
Quartz-based sand, rich in silicon, is essential for manufacturing various products, including glass and cosmetics, with its primary use in construction, such as high rises, metro systems, and bridges.
Notably, the construction industry requires a specific type of sand, characterized by coarse and sharp grains, found only on beaches and riverbeds, leading to substantial mining and excavation from these water bodies.
The murky world of ‘illegal’ sand mining and violent mafias
The sand was earlier extracted in two ways, mechanized dredging and manual dredging. The former would require expensive dredgers (machines that pull out sand from riverbeds) while the latter would involve more transportation costs as it involved human labour.
This paved the way for sand mafias to proliferate their base and exploit the sand resources. As per the data submitted by the Union Environment Ministry to the Rajya Sabha in 2018, Maharashtra recorded 1,39,706 illegal mining cases between 2013 and 2017, the highest number in the country.
Before the policy, in Maharashtra, the auction and sale of sand were predominantly controlled by these private players. But now as per the new policy, the government will float tenders for extraction and sale from its own depots.
However, this doesn’t guarantee a stop on illegal mining. As I speak to Sumaira Abdulali, an environmentalist who has fought against illegal mining in Maharashtra for more than two decades, she narrates the situation at two villages in Alibaug.
Nexus Unveiled: Contrasting Sand Mining Practices at Alibaug’s Kihim and Awas Villages
There is a dangerously interwoven nexus between the builders, the sand mafias, and the locals of the area from where the sand is illegally extracted. For example, the Kihim and Awas villages in Maharashtra both share the Kihim beach.
The former has completely stopped sand mining at the beach for the last twenty years. Abdulali says, “Kihim villagers have decided in their own words that ‘they will not permit even one bucket of sand to be taken from their beach.” However, some Awas villagers have been involved in mining activities, persistently extracting sand from the beach.
She talked to a young miner from a nearby village. He said a contractor hires him to get sand through Awas village, and he gets paid for each cart of sand he delivers. Abdulali further narrates, “I asked him what will you do with so much sand? And he said it was to build his house. When I further questioned him as to how many houses he is planning to make with so much sand it became evident he was instructed to give such a specific answer.”
However, it doesn’t end here. Abdulali visited the depots where such sand is stored only to be later picked up by the trucks. As early as 2009, sand mining was banned in the Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) after a petition made by Abdulali’s NGO Awaaz Foundation.
She says, “So the trucks cannot enter the beaches but the bullock carts can. And that’s how the manual dredging worked. So here there is a clear contrast between these two villages. One has not allowed sand mining and the other in which locals are involved and it has become a commercial business.”
Although it may seem villagers take only a small amount of sand, it’s difficult to know where it ends up once it’s loaded onto trucks.
All this for ‘affordable housing’ but where is it?
According to research conducted by the IIT-Bombay in 2019, the yearly sand requirement in urban India is projected to reach 60 million metric tonnes. This would roughly equate to an average of 1 kilogram of sand per person per day in urban India.
The need to create affordable housing is for low-income families. But there is a clear contrast between such houses and the ones created for the high rises, which are luxury houses. According to a report this year, in the third quarter of 2023, high-end homes priced above Rs 1 crore in India saw higher sales than affordable homes priced below Rs 50 lakh.
The highlight of the state’s sand mining policy lies in its belief that reducing the prices of the sand will further bring down the cost of housing. In its introductory year, one brass (around 4,615 kg) of sand would cost only Rs 600.
India’s construction market is poised to become the world’s third-largest, and it’s not new information that the relentless demand for sand is rapidly depleting coastal resources, resulting in declining groundwater levels, and inflicting harm on ecosystems and the livelihoods of local communities.
A concerned Abdulali adds, “A city like Mumbai is very ironic. We are extracting sand to build a city. But the safety of this city is completely dependent on the sand. Maybe for now keeping the price of sand less will give you cheaper housing but it is important to also look at what kind of profits are going to the real estate industry and how is it helping the citizens?”
Solutions come with a price but offer sustainability
There are many alternatives to natural sand that are equally effective. Manufactured sand (M-sand) is one such example. In fact, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu both have released their respective M-sand policies thereby pushing newer alternatives into the public domain. Even though Maharashtra had made several efforts before, it failed to gain confidence among the builders.
Also, relying solely on M-sand is also not a feasible sustainable solution in the long run. Several environmentalists fear that it has the potential to cause adverse effects on other ecosystems like hillocks and rocky areas. Thus establishing a well-distributed and conscientious sourcing mechanism becomes crucial. This approach thus ensures a balanced and responsible utilization of resources while minimizing the environmental impact on various ecosystems.
Exploring alternatives to natural sand involves infrastructure setup and initial experimentation, increasing costs compared to readily available natural sand. And political will plays a greater role in ensuring implementation.
A significant portion of Mumbai is undergoing reconstruction. Abdulali suggests on-site recycling of debris, which already contains sand, will reduce debris transportation costs and decrease the demand for new natural sand.
She points out, “We are the fastest developing city in India. But we aim for the cheapest material possible. And that is really ironic. Because we are building the ‘world-class’ coastal road which has the highest building cost per kilometer compared to any other road in the world. And yet we are trying to save money on sand.”
This short-sightedness is already proving dangerous. According to a report by SANDRP in 2022, Maharashtra witnessed at least 8 fatalities related to sand mining and transportation activities. The excessive dredging, primarily responsible for the majority of these deaths, especially among young children, resulted in numerous drowning incidents.
Do we even have more natural sand? Where is the data?
The government’s policy announcement, amid a surge in infrastructure and reconstruction projects, raises a pressing question: Do we even possess ample natural sand resources to sustain this demand? It’s alarming that we have never conducted a thorough assessment of our sand reserves versus requirements.
Our current knowledge is as vague as district maps showing mining locations, but it doesn’t reveal the critical details of how much sand remains available for excavation. Additionally, the district reports provide information on the allowable sand extraction limits, but they lack the underlying rationale and sometimes even omit details regarding extraction locations.
Thus, it should not be a one-party show and must include all the stakeholders—the government, citizens, experts, and NGOs. The government’s intent should be clear. What should be the outcome of the policy? Revenue or minimize sand mining? These two are polar opposite viewpoints.
Abdulali asserts, “If the intention was to minimize sand mining, then the policy would have been towards finding alternatives and not making sand cheaper. When any government becomes the central player in such policies it becomes evident the intent is to maximize their revenue through sand mining and not necessarily minimize sand mining.”
She suggests that the government should allocate funds and support startups that can develop alternative technologies while committing to support and practice it themselves.
In the context of how natural resources are always assaulted in the name of ‘development’, author Amitav Ghosh, in his book The Great Derangement, highlights a very poignant point. He quotes geologist David Archer who says, “Money flows toward short-term gain and toward the over-exploitation of unregulated common resources. These tendencies are like the invisible hand of fate, guiding the hero in a Greek tragedy toward his inevitable doom.”
Our cities need development, but it doesn’t have to rely solely on the conventional crutches of cement and concrete.
Featured image: CMO (Chief Minister of Maharashtra’s) Twitter handle.
This story has been written as part of the My City Writers’ Training Program.
This story has been published as part of a collaboration between India Sand Watch and Youth Ki Awaaz to shed light on the critical issue of sand mining.