Govt releases guidelines to monitor, check illegal sand mining

News:Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has released the Enforcement and Monitoring Guidelines for Sand Mining 2020 to monitor and check illegal sand mining in the country.

Facts:

About the Guidelines:

• These rules serves as a guideline for collection of critical information for enforcement of the regulatory provisions and for effective monitoring of Sustainable Sand Mining Rules 2016.

Key provisions of the Guidelines:

• States to carry out river audits and should put detailed survey reports of all mining areas online and set up a dedicated task forces at district levels.
• States to monitor the movement of sand at different levels such as at the time of sale and purchase at stockyards and during transportation.
• Use of technology through remote surveillance, drones to curb Illegal mining.
• Online sales and purchase of sand and other riverbed materials to make the process transparent. 
• The transportation of Sand should take place only in vehicles which are installed with GPS and have been registered with the state government.

Drawbacks of the Guidelines:

• The guidelines has put the entire onus on the states to enforce and monitor sustainable mining while completely relieving itself from any kind of responsibilities.
• There is no mechanism on who will enforce and monitor sustainable mining in bigger projects while states have been told to monitor for projects below 100 hectares.