From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji
 
Panaji, May 27: The whistleblower on the illegal sand extraction activity has said that he never meant to stop entire sand mining in the state but was actually protesting against illegalities in his own village at Keri, 50 kms north of Panaji.
 
“When I filed petition in the Court, I meant to stop only the illegal sand extraction in Keri village. Now they are blaming me for campaign against entire sand extraction activity in the state,” said Narayan Sopte Kerkar, a retired cop, whose petition has forced the district administration to crack down on the industry.
 
Since May 17, the sand extraction in the state has come to standstill affecting construction industry.
 
Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat has written to Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) to grant special status to Goa in Coastal Regulation Zone, 2011 act to allow sand mining in the river bed.
 
Kerkar said that he had filed petition before the court after around 60 canoes were mercilessly mining the Terekhol river sea bed adjacent to Keri village in Pernem taluka. “Entire village is facing brunt of it. It was somewhere 16 years ago that the sluice gates had ruptured allowing saline water to rush in the village,” he said.
 
“Almost half of the village is inundated with saline water,” Kerkar claimed.
 
He said that the sand extraction activity has also spilled over to the Keri seashore, which was a major tourism spot. “The extractors began taking away sand from Keri seashore, which resulted in destruction of sand bars, sand dunes and even protection wall constructed by government at the cost of Rs eight crore to avoid sand erosion got crumbled,” Kerkar said.
 
The retires assistant sub inspector’s first brush with the government came on December 17, 2010 when he publicly announced hunger strike until death before state mines and geology department demanding to stop sand extraction activity near Keri ferry wharf.
 
He gave time till March 7, 2011 for the government to act. Kerkar was called by Mines department for a dialogue on March 4, 2011 wherein they assured him to stop all illegal activity.
 
The mines department acted, but for namesake as the illegal extraction re-surfaced after few days, the activist said.
 
In the meantime, Kerkar had filed petition before the court which came up for hearing recently resulting in the closure of sand mining activity that is banned under CRZ 2011.
 
Kerkar said that he is well aware of importance of sand in construction industry. “But why is that 75 per cent sand is mined from Terekhol river?,” he quipped.
 
Claiming to be son of a mason, Kerkar said that there should be proper policy formed by government before supporting sand extraction. “You cannot be ruthless towards our environment,” he said.