KOCHI: Who would expect an important government order to carry a grave calculation error that forms its very basis? The order of the Principal Secretary in the Revenue Department, Dr Vishwas Mehta, issued on June 6 stipulating the sand to be mined from Periyar for the next three years as well as the next one year after conducting sand auditing contains this grave error.
The error means that the sand lobby can plunder the river of 54,940.54 cubic metres of additional sand unauthorisedly, but under legal cover of this order, from Periyar in three years! When sand sells like gold, everyone knows what it means.
The third paragraph of the order reads: “Government is in receipt of the sand audit report pertaining to Periyar river. The sand audit report of the said river has been compiled by the Centre for Socio-Economic and Environmental Studies (CSES) under the technical guidance of River Management Cell and has been scrutinized and verified by National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS).” It further states that “according to the report the total quantity of sand above summer water level in the river for the period of three years is assessed as 185835.82 cubic metres and the mineable sand per year is estimated as 61949 cubic metres.”
The order has also given the details with regard to the quantity of sand allowed to be mined in the respective panchayats for three years and one year in a table beneath.
When the figures given against ten panchayats are tabulated, the correct figure that one gets for three years is 130895.28 cubic metres while for one year it is 43635 cubic metres.
The details vis-a-vis each panchayat for three years in cubic metre are: Kavalangadu (Left Bank)-725.25; Koovappady (left bank)-12170.23; Okkal (left bank)-28438.8; Perumbavoor Municipality (left bank)-1265.73; Vazhakkulam (left bank)-286.88; Keezhmadu (left bank)-54940.54; Adimaly (right bank)-725.25; Neeleswaram (right bank) -2351.19; Kalady (right bank) -4699.7; Kanjoor (right bank) -25291.71. The order further states that “Government have examined the sand audit report of Periyar river and approved as above.”
Mr N. Ramachandran, environmentalist, said: “This shows how negligently and lackadaisically the sand audit report has been prepared and approved by the government with regard to an important river like Periyar.”
