KOCHI: Sand auditing in Periyar River conducted by the Centre for Socio Economic and Environmental Studies has been completed and as per the audit report, as much as 61,949 cubic metres of sand can be mined from the river annually.
The auditing has been done under the supervision of the River Management Cell and the National Centre for Earth Science Studies.
Based on the report, the state government has instructed the collector to permit sand mining from the river.
The audit report has specifically mentioned the quota of sand that can be mined from each kadavu in various parts of the district.
Certain areas have been excluded from the list as they do not have enough quantity of sand. The panchayats that have been excluded are Keerambara, Pindimana, Veng-oor, Kuttambuzha, Sreemoolanagaram, Chengamanad and Aluva municipality.
The state government has permitted sand mining only in a phased manner and the quota of sand will be revised after the next sand auditing.
The district collector has been instructed to implement the government instruction but to take strict action against illegal sand mining.
The permitted areas and the quota of minable sand in cubic metres are Kavalangad (242), Koovapady (4,057), Okkal (9,480), Perumbavoor (422), Vazhakulam (96), Keezhmadu (18,314), Adimali (242), Neeleswaram (784), Kalady (1,567) and Kanjoor (8431).
Earlier, the state government ordered sand auditing in Periyar after various green organisations demanded that it should be allowed but only after conducting an audit to assess the quantity of sand available for mining.
