The sand mafia in Maharashtra is known for its rampant, illegal extraction of sand from rivers and coastal areas, which plays havoc with the ecosystem and local communities. However, these sand miners, who are also known to assault officials standing in their way, may find themselves in trouble with the state government pushing for the deployment of drones across districts to check illegal extraction for the sand-hungry construction sector.
These unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been deployed in Nagpur to monitor violation of sand mining leases and illegal extraction and the government is planning to replicate the model across Maharashtra.
Officials admit that illegal sand mining is a multi-crore industry and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has also red-flagged violations and poor controls in Maharashtra's mining sector.
Maharashtra chief secretary Swadheen Kshatriya told dna that based on the deployment of these drones by the Nagpur district collectorate, they were looking for it to be replicated in other districts.
"Technology is a very effective tool for monitoring illegal extraction and mining," said Kshatriya, adding that during a recent visit to Nagpur, he had been shown a demonstration wherein a drone was used for the surveillance of a sand ghat (extraction site on the river bank).
The feed could be zoomed into for identifying vehicles transporting sand and their number plates and checking if they had permission to do so. The photos, which have a date and time stamp, can also be used to geotag the site's latitude and longitude.
"We have deployed drones to detect illegal mining. Manual inspection and vigilance is time-consuming and risky in night hours," said Sachin Kurve, district collector, Nagpur, adding that the UAV was deployed randomly to patrol a three to four km radius of the sand ghats in the district to detect illegal mining.
The district has one drone with night vision cameras with plans to deploy two more machines.
"The recording in the drone is electronic evidence... based on this we have cancelled (mining contracts for) nine ghats," he said, adding that it provided strong proof of violations. Nagpur has a total of 67 sand ghats of which 36 have been auctioned.
"(We watch for) the breach of terms and conditions where the ghats have been auctioned and illegal excavation where they have not been auctioned," said Kurve, adding that this was started in summer.
While granting environmental clearances, it was made mandatory for sand excavation to be done manually, sans heavy machines. The drone detected if machines were used for excavation and if excess sand was removed. It is also used to monitor the various water conservation works under the state government's flagship Jal Yukta Shivaar program.
The state cabinet has also decided to deploy the stringent Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act (MPDA), 1981, against the sand mafia.
Sand is classified as a minor mineral and the state earns around Rs 1,200 crore annually through auction of minor minerals, though sand mafia's actual turnover may be much higher.
In its report, the CAG has pointed to poor controls on the mining sector in Maharashtra and noted that a system for ascertaining the actual quantity of sand extracted after allotment of sand ghats was also absent.
