PANAJI
Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral on Wednesday said the State government has appealed to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to tweak the CRZ rules so as to permit sand extraction by traditional methods in Goan rivers.
“Under the CRZ rules, sand extraction is permitted only in rivers that dry up. In Goa, none of its 11 rivers dry up and so sand cannot be extracted,” Cabral said, adding that the request to the Centre is accompanied with data and scientific reasoning.
Cabral said the government had commissioned the NIO Centre in Goa to conduct the study of Goa’s eleven rivers on multiple parameters one of which was sand extraction.
“The study is complete as far as the sand extraction parameter is concerned for Keri-Tiracol and Chapora rivers. It has supported sand extraction by traditional, manual methods without the use of machinery,” Cabral said.
Goa’s sand mining quagmire has been haunting Goa for several years and shot into sharp focus following last week’s shooting incident in Curchorem, the constituency of Cabral, in which one labourer was killed.
Technically there has been a complete ban on local sand mining industry due to court directions.
