Puthuvypeen being Robbed of Beach Sand

KOCHI: Beach sand is being manually gathered by the members of the coastal  community of Puthuvypeen for various domestic purposes. And they are doing  it with no prior permission from the authorities concerned. The fact,   interestingly, is that the locals are not aware of the need of an official     permission to gather the sand. The Environment Ministry has stipulated that the local coastal community  can remove sand manually from beaches only after getting the permission from    the district environment authorities. Local labourers who carry sand in carts to their homes supply it for others  too. According to a labourer, the sand taken from the coastal area is being used   to level the surroundings of houses. “The sand is also being used to    construct small structures for domestic use. The beach sand is washed with  fresh water to reduce salinity to make it suitable for construction,” he said. On whether he secured the permission from the local authorities to gather sand, the labourer said he  was not aware of anything in that regard. Meanwhile, the Marine Geology Department officials are unaware of mining incidents here. “The mining activities on the coast are illegal as we have  not issued permission in this regard to anyone. One should have the   Free-permit issued by the department to remove sand from the beach. A  Free-permit allows coastal community to remove 50 tonnes of sand,” said  N Krishnamurthy of Marine and Geology Department. The approval issued by the Union Government stipulated that coastal sand mining by the local community using manual methods should be monitored by authorities concerned and a report should be submitted to the District Collector.  The report should be made available on the website of the respective collectorates.