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High stakes, mega bucks fuel illegal ‘dig-load-sell’ sand business -Surojit Gupta
-The Times of India


NEW DELHI: Humble sand is today big business. The boom in the construction industry in the last decade has triggered a huge demand for sand, to meet which contractors, with the help of pliant state officials, have begun a dig-load-sell exercise at a frantic pace. The story of illegal loot of sand in this high-stake business is repeated in state after state.

TOI spoke to several officials, activists, contractors and dealers to get an estimate of the exact size of the business. But a majority of them said it would be difficult to put a number. Contractors estimate that the sand business in Haryana alone is worth Rs 10,000 crore. In Punjab, it is estimated to be a Rs 2 crore a day business, while in Odisha it's pegged around Rs 15,000 crore.

"It is very difficult to give the actual size of the sand business as this varies from place to place across the country," said Manoj Mishra, convener of the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan, pointing to the "hundreds" of illegal mining sites along the Yamuna, from Yamunanagar to Etawah.

The sand mining business in Rajasthan runs between Rs 300 crore and Rs 400 crore per month. State capital Jaipur is a major demand centre and also serves as a terminal for supply to Delhi, Gurgaon and Behror. In Bihar, a senior government official estimated the illegal sand mining trade to be worth between Rs 7,000 crore and Rs 8,000 crore.

"Around 1,500 to 2,000 truckloads of bajari (river sand) is sold in Jaipur every day, while the average for the state is anywhere between 8,000 and 9,000 trucks per day," said Navin Sharma, president of the All Rajasthan Bajari Truck Union. Each truck carries 500 cubic feet bajari, or sand, which costs around Rs 25 to Rs 30 per cubic feet, said Sharma.

The price of a truckload of sand also varies from state to state. A truck load of sand (600 cubic feet) is available for Rs 15,000 in Haryana whereas it was available for Rs 3,500 three years ago when mining was not banned in the state. In West Bengal it varies between Rs 1,600 and Rs 2,000 per truck. But in some cities such as Bangalore it may go up to Rs 40,000 for a truckload of sand depending on the quality.

Sand is a good source of revenue for state governments. According to the commissioner of geology and mining department, Gujarat earned Rs 114 crore royalty from sand mining in 2012-13, up from Rs 102 crore in the previous year. The state government charges Rs 12 per tonne royalty on sand.

The huge gap between supply and demand of natural sand has seen an increase in the illegal filter sand business (washing of sandy loam soil and selling it as sand) in the state. The farmers along the riverbeds, tank beds and streams are extracting sand and selling it to the mafia. The farmers extract sand and sell it to the middlemen for Rs 6,000 to Rs 9,000 per truckload, depending on the quality.

The increase in the construction of apartments, townships, roads and bridges has pushed up the demand for sand. "Sand is an expensive commodity today, though the price varies in different markets. Risk factors are many, such as the mounting pressure on the government machinery from the sand mafia and their growing threat," said a senior officer at Aurangabad.

Campaigners say soaring demand for sand due to massive construction activity poses a threat not just to the environment but to society at large, and urgent measures are needed to tackle the problem.

"With real estate mushrooming and construction of highways and roads booming, there is huge demand for sand. And this has led to mafia taking over the mining business in many areas," said Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan's Mishra, calling for better regulation to allow sustainable mining.

In recent years, Bihar has witnessed bloodshed over lucrative sand mining rights. Hundreds of people have been killed in 'sand wars' between different criminal gangs backed by politicians, especially in sand-rich Lakhisarai, Saran, Bhojpur, Nawada and Patna districts.

Killings to get mining rights are commonplace. Rewards include not only the 'legal earnings' but also the money made through clandestine mining of sand in excess of the volume permitted by the government.

Apart from the mega bucks, the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people, from truck drivers to construction labourers, are linked to the sand business. Officials and experts say a clampdown on illegal mining would have a huge impact on employment. The numbers are striking. For example, in Pune alone, thousands of trucks are involved in the trade.

"About 4,000 trucks are involved in transport of sand to the construction sites in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad areas every day. This includes about 1,500 trucks of river sand and about 2,500 trucks of crush sand. Besides sand is also supplied from neighbouring districts," said Yogesh Sasane, secretary of the Pune Mining and Crushing Organization.

Any disruption in supply is expected to push up the project costs, give rise to more mafia and cripple building activity. Already builders are facing the heat. The real estate sector is one of the largest employers and is a vital contributor to growth.

"The cost of sand has gone up three times in the last one year. And today if I ask for quote for sand nobody is willing to give that because of the uncertainty," said Getambar Anand, president-elect of CREDAI, a builders group.

"A blanket ban is not a solution. It leads to black marketing. If it is the failure of enforcing agencies why should we suffer?" Anand said.

(With inputs from Pranava K. Chowdhury in Patna, Saugata Roy in Kolkata, Harit Mehta in Ahmedabad, Anindo Dey in Jaipur, Shiva Kumar ND in Bangalore, Sarang Dastane in Pune, Ranjan Diggikar in Aurangabad, Chennai, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Goa, Bhopal, Odisha)