The rivers are the manufacturers of sand. Without river, sand cannot be imagined. The sand enriches the potentialities of soil. In sticky black cotton calcarious soil, the presence of sand removes the stickiness and develops porosity and aeration of the soil. The fertility of the land is improved.
Fertile soil is always different from sandy loam and loamy sand. The “loam” means a rich composition of clay, sand and decayed vegetable matters. Similarly, “sandy loam” means greater percentage of sand and lower percentage of loam. Again, the loamy sand means more percentage of loam and lower percentage of sand. The sandy loam and loamy sand soils are creation of rivers and streams.
Especially in brine sandy areas of sea coast, very limited types of flora and fauna are seen. The casuarinas is a very prominent species of sea coast, which is capable of arresting the blowing of sands by oceanic wind and stablising of the sand dunes, which also poses constant threats to human habitats.
Casuarinas and cashew nut plantations which have ecological as well as commercial values are raised along the sea coast of Puri and also in several other coastal parts of Odisha. large scale plantations along the sea coast of these species of trees in north and south Odisha have proved quite beneficial in preventing sand erosion. Again different kinds of shells commonly inhabit in the sandy platforms of the sea, particularly in shallow sea bottoms. Our lakhyadeep, Gulf of Myanmar, Palk Bay coasts of Tirunelveli and Tuticorin and Kathiwara coast are famous for such ecosystem. The commercial and economic value of sand is much more. Now, development works are going on throughout the country and in the globe where sand is a vital ingredient. Because of the heavy masonry structures like buildings, bridges and culverts, there is a heavy demand of sand.
At present, sand has become a political component among the unscrupulous contractors, public servants and politicians. The political mortar controls the administrations of our country very firmly. Sometimes back, a lady sub-collector in Uttar Pradesh was very much humiliated by the State Government for the reasons that she booked some unlawful traders of sand from the Yamuna river. The theft of sand under the very nose of the State Government and public servants concerned is possible thanks to the unscrupulous nexus between the sand traders and politicians.
If we examine the case of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack twin city, it can be seen that every day thousands of truck-loads of sand are coming to this twin city from the river Kuakhia, Kathajodi and Mahanadi lawfully and unlawfully for all sorts of construction works in the cities. No-holds-barred sand mining is surely an ecological threat as it leads to soil erosions and flooding. Nobody will disagree that this is done for development works, but everything should be done systematically and in a proper manner, lest there should be grave ecological disasters for which we all have to pay a price one day.
The deserts are the field of sand. The Egyptians and Israelites produce bumper crops from sand. So the chemistry of the sand is to be studied vividly to make the sandy soil productive as we have vast sand beds in the coastal tracts. The sand is known as loose materials consisting of rock or mineral grains, especially rounded grains of quartz. The special character of sand is that, it very quickly absorbs water and heat and also releases the same at the same rate. So the physical properties of sand as well as the physical action of river currents and oceanic tides make it possible for creation of “sand bars” in the rivers and sea.
A few days back, 47 wagons of sand from Kathajodi were found at Manguli railway station ready to be dispatched to Uttar Pradesh by sand smugglers, but as the information could reach the local Revenue authorities, they swung into action and seized the sand. The Collector, Cuttack and the local Tehsildar were physically present at the spot and booked the offenders. The main accused is not traced yet. It is said that, a person from Uttar Pradesh is the mastermind behind the sand smuggling.
Now massive plantations are going on to protect the banks of rivers from soil erosions everywhere in India. Not only are tree plantations going on, soil conservation measures are also going on side by side to protect the soil erosion and also recover eroded land.
The writer is an inhabitant of Mahanadi riverine eco-system and he knows how river bank erosion creates panic among the people, particularly during the rainy season. It is surprising how the environment protection bodies and green belt activists are allowing the illegal practices to continue. It is also clear that sand is required for development practices of the country and the States, but all such operations should be carried out scientifically and systematically, where least damage to the banks as well as formation of river based back-waters will be the least.
(The writer is a former senior forest officer and an environmentalist. Tel no 9937460649)