The Karimanal Ghanana Virudha Ekopana Samithi (KGVES) has urged the State government not to entrust ‘mineral sand companies’ with the removal and transporting of sand from Thottappally pozhi (sandbar at sea mouth).
In a statement issued here recently, KGVES chairman Suresh Kumar S. said that until four years ago the Irrigation department used to invite tenders to cut open the pozhi to ensure the flow of excess water from Kuttanad to the sea. Mr. Kumar said that in recent years, however, companies like Kerala Minerals and Metals Limited and Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL) were entrusted with opening the pozhi and transporting the removed sand in the name of flood mitigation in Kuttanad.
Unscientific dredging and removal of huge quantities of mineral-rich sand from Thottappally is destroying the coast and Kuttanad region, he said.
The KGVES said the government had assigned the IREL to cut open the pozhi and remove sand this time. It entrusted the IREL with the work to help the Cochin Minerals And Rutile Limited, the KGVES alleged.
Meanwhile, the indefinite relay satyagraha being staged under the aegis of the KGVES against the mineral sand mining completed 1,067 days on Wednesday.
