THOOTHUKUDI: Following repeated complaints on illegal transportation of beach sand minerals stashed in various sealed godowns, the State government has ordered collectors of three districts - Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari - to install CCTV cameras and to deploy adequate police force on the premises.
The collectors have also been instructed to reassess the stock of beach sand minerals in the godowns by constituting teams comprising officials of survey, revenue, geology and mining departments, Atomic Mineral Directorate and for Exploration and Research (AMD). They were also told to complete the re-assessment process within a month.
After noticing various violations in the beach sand minerals industry, the Ministry of Mines had prematurely terminated all the lease licences through a notification in February, 2019.
A special team led by Satyabrata Sahoo that inspected the beach sand godowns in 2017 had found a difference of 69,89,946 tonnes between the official records and the quantity declared by the owners/lease holders in the three districts. While the special team assessed 1,55,48,680 tonnes of beach mineral stock, the owners/lease holders had declared only 85,58,734 tonnes.
Sources said though Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh governments had given only 67 mining licences for an area of 1,228 hectares with prior approval from Ministry of Mines, the beach sand miners had mined several thousands of hectares. Of the 64 beach sand mining licences allotted for Tamil Nadu, 61 fell under the Gulf of Mannar marine Biosphere, within the coastal regulation zone, and the violations caused to the environment are yet to be probed.
An activist, Advocate Hari Ragavan, pointed out, the difference in the quantum of beach sand minerals is due to illegal mining. "However, probes into the violations are still awaited due to the court proceedings," he said, adding even though an official report on illegal mining at Arasoor in Thoothukudi was submitted to the State government, no action has been taken yet.
Meanwhile, the AMD report on analysis of samples revealed that 118 out of 220 samples had more than 0.25 per cent of monazite equivalent.
Monazite mined from Indian coasts is considered the best in the world and smuggling it is against National Security Act. "It is the source of atomic minerals such as Thorium and Uranium, and other rare earth elements," he pointed out.
Speaking to TNIE, President of Federation of Indian Placer Mineral Industries Dr D Daya Devadas said the beach sand minerals should be given to Indian Rare Earths Limited India(IREL-India), after the reassessment.
"IREL (India) has not been given any beach sand mining lease since 2000 and the company reduced its production below its installed capacity due to lack of raw material supply," he said adding, the unit which employed over 3000 workers has now employed only around 300.