Use of River Sand

Hello rambansal, I have been watching the same from my childhood in a nearby river in our native place. But recently the government has made some ban on the action in the name of environment protection. But the work is still going on by challenging the ban. No one is there to check it, if anybody informs the police the work will stop for over a period. I also heard patrolling is going on in night in some places. Again bribe has an importance role in this field too. I remember, when I was in school, we used to go to the river along with mother for washing cloths especially in summer season. That time the depth of river was not much, my brother and his friends used to cross the river by swimming as in the middle of river was less water (waist deep water) due to sand. Now the river become deepens due to the removal of sand for long years. Another thing I noticed, in that period in rainy season, water comes to the nearby houses and lands. Now the river is rarely overflowing. Now the river becomes danger in rainy season in flood time. In the view of banning the river sand, people used to dig up the lands and get sands from there. Now many agricultural lands become ponds or pits after taking the sand. Now sand is the most costly thing for constructing house or building. I really don’t think about the advantages or disadvantages. Now in our native state a new term using widely ‘manal (sand) mafia’. Many people become rich in overnight by selling the sand.

I heard about this sand problem. What ever you stated is right. But why Government is not allowing people to take the sand? Recently my uncle told that there was sand scarcity in their village, though they live near the Godavari. They are not getting sand to construct the houses.

I was not aware that using this sand across riverbed is good for flow of rivers. It is upto local bodies to see how best it can be done for different purposes.