Illegal transport of sand on rise in Odisha’s Kendrapara dist, watch

Kendrapara: Everyone dreams of owning a perfect home. And for the construction of a house we mainly need rods, cement, bricks and sand. Materials such as cement, iron rod etc. are selected according to the reputation of the company. Yet, sand is a gift of nature. The place where fresh water sand is found, everyone wants to have some of that for their house construction. Hence, the demand of fresh water sand is high.

Kendrapara sand is in great demand not only in the state but also out of the state. That is the reason even sand mafias are active here to syphon sand from Kendrapada district to other places. Recently, it was seen that even companies from far places are interested to take sand from here. A company from Andaman was interested to take sand from Kendrapara.

Coastal districts are rich in riverine sands including the fine sand and coarse sand as minor mineral resources. Millions of cusecs of sand is found in the riverbank every year. The highest quality sand is lifted from the banks of rivers of Kendrapada district. The district administration has conducted auctions in more than 20 places. Auctioneers are depositing crores of rupees for this. This sand of Kendrapada district is in demand everywhere, be it for house construction or bridge construction or any other big work. Materials made of this sand have a longer lasting effect. The administration auctions more than 2 lakh cubic feet of sand every year.

Everyone eye upon on materials in demand. Hence, traders are competing with each other to earn more profit by selling this sand.

Unscrupulous traders are always keeping an eye on the minor mineral resources of Kendrapada district. Even though the auction has been done by the administration, there is still smuggling of sand in Nilakanthapur under Pattamundi tehsil and Aul tehsil. However, the administration is pretending like it does not have information about it.

Unscrupulous traders not only from Kendrapara district but from other other places have eyed on the sand of Mahanadi and its tributaries like Luna, Karandia, Chitrotpala and on the other hand Brahmani, Baitarani and Birupa etc. rivers.  Even recently, a company from Andaman has eyed to lift sand from this district.

A private company from Andaman named Shakti Sugar Logistics, managed to get permission from the administration of Kendrapara to lift sand from this district. Accordingly, in last April, arrangements were made to take sand from Derabish block of Kendrapada district to Andaman through Paradip port.

This company had planned to transport 11 thousand metric tons of sand at one time in a ship. Reportedly, the company had made an agreement with the administration to lift 57 thousand cubic feet of sand from Kendrapada. However, the company had no place to keep this huge amount of sand. Hence, the company was forced to put sand elsewhere.

In this matter, Paradip Port Authorities wrote a letter to Kendrapada District Collector seeking a clarification in this regard. Question was raised in the letter how come a company from Andaman was allowed to lift sand from the district?

The District Collector replied that permission to the Andaman Company was given only for lifting of sand but not for transport of sand. The Collector’s letter reads, “Permission for lifting has been given as per relevant rules of the R&DM Dept. However, it is no way a permit or pass to transport the sand from Paradip port without following relevant norms, rules, guidelines and berth allotment principles established by Paradip Port Trust.”

Accordingly, the ship returned to Andaman. How dare the Andaman Company take sand in dishonest ways? Whose hand is behind them? All things will be revealed if an investigation will be initiated. However, no senior official of Kendrapada district administration is ready to speak in this matter.

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