At the stroke of the midnight hour, while the world sleeps, India’s sand mafia awakens. Driving trucks, tractors and SUVs, they forage near the riverbeds to dig up the new gold. Sand, India’s most in-demand natural resource after water, is the key to a building boom that some call the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 35 million work for this booming building industry, with $126 billion of value each year. And they all need sand. It’s a lucrative, and illegal, business.
The best sand doesn’t come from the deserts but from riverbeds. These sensitive ecosystems are being ravaged across the country for profit. In the eyes of the government, it is illegal. Under 2006 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) rules, all sand mining requires a government notification. But the sand mafia operates comfortably beyond the reach of the law – mining riverbeds at night with the security of its own thugs, vehicles and political heft.
Sand mining, though illegal, also takes place in broad daylight. Politicians are accused of harbouring profits from this mafia in exchange for turning a blind eye. Bureaucrats who dare to challenge the mafia are defeated by the system. Some, like D.K. Ravi, end up dead. Others, like Durga Shakti, find themselves suspended on flimsy grounds.
Some call it the largest scam in the country today. And thanks to this plethora of unchecked, mafia-backed mining, sand has become an unlikely candidate for conservation.
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