Ban On Black Sand Mining In Philippines. Vaikundarajan Explains Why ?

In Philippines, a group of environment supporters in the Vigan City have called for a ban on magnetite and black sand mining in the country. “A move like this can strength the environment safety campaign in Philippines,” says Vaikundarajan, founder of VV Minerals India, a leading sand beach mining company.

The bill was proposed seeking to prevent companies from the taking the advantage of improper guidelines in mining and facilitate illegal activities causing a harm to the environment. This disruption in environment can cause grievances to people’s lives and their livelihood. “Hence, the government must have safeguards in place to stop companies from abusing dredging permits,” adds Vaikundarajan.

Meanwhile, all black sand mining operations in Ilocos Sur has been declared illegal by Environment Undersecretary Leo Jasareno. Several raids have been conducted to dismantle illegal activities in San Vicente and Caoayan towns in Ilocos Sur.

“Black sand extraction is the common payment mechanism for the services of dredging operators. The problem lies with the local government who issues the service contract to the companies. These contract allow the firms to extract minerals and disrupt major rivers in the region,” explains Vaikundarajan. 

Imposing the ban is not the only solution. Those involved in the illegal activities must also be tracked down and brought to justice. 

Madurai High Court Bench dismisses PILs against sand mining in Srivaikundam dam

The public interest litigation petitions, filed last year, alleging indiscriminate mining of sand from Tamirabharani riverbed in the guise of desilting Srivaikundam check dam in Thoothukudi district, have been dismissed by the Madras High Court Bench in Madurai.

One of the petitions had alleged that around 4,500 tonnes of sand had been mined from the riverbed illegally in the guise of desilting and hence there was a necessity to form a State-level monitoring committee for supervising river sand mining.

“Last year too, some PIL petitioners had asked the High Court to stop the desilting work, to which the High Court had suggested that the petitioners should approach the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and seek modification of the order granting permission for desilting”, says Vaikundarajan, founder of VV Minerals India, one of the leading sand beach mining companies in India.

The Division Bench dismissed these petitions after Special Government Pleader M. Govindan recorded a statement that the issue was seized of by the NGT which had modified the permission granted for desilting and ordered maintenance of status quo