Removal of Sand from Sand Bar SB-N3 of Nethravathi River in Mangalore of “Dakshina Kannada District” for Environment Clearance (EC) from SEIAA, BANGALORE

Proposal of “Removal of sand from Sand Bar SB-N3 of Nethravathi river in Mangalore of “Dakshina Kannada District” for Environment Clearance (EC) from SEIAA, BANGALORE. PREAMBLE: In Dakshina Kannada district two major rivers namely Nethravathi Gurupura (Palguni) and one minor river namely Nandini which are perennial in nature and are flowing towards west and joining to Arabian Sea. Most part of the rivers covered under Coastal Regulation Zones. The traditional community residing at river banks are depends on fishing, sand collection, Lime shell collection etc., They have been practicing removal of sand for their livelihood since many decades. the traditional coastal communities use to remove the sand from sand bars which come across obstacles for navigation of boats of fishermen and public water transportation by their traditional methods. They had been doing sand removing and selling the sand removing and selling the sand in the local market after paying royalty as per state Government rules periodically. As per CRZ Notification 2011 river bed, river water, creek bed and creek water were also included in CRZ area; sand removing is completely stopped since sand mining is prohibited activity in the CRZ area. therefore Ministry of Environment and Forest, New Delhi considering state government request given provisions to state Government to permit traditional communities for removal sand bars manually in CRZ area in the Office Memorandum dated 8-11-2011. Recently requisitions from the local communities from the river banks were also received to remove sandbars for smooth navigation. District sand monitoring (CRZ) committee, Dakshina Kannada district had identified 19 sand bars with the supervision of NITK, Suratkal and prepared the sand bar maps and the quantity of removable sand from sand bar was also assessed. As per Karnataka Minor Mineral Concession Rules 1994 amendment 2013 rule 31U(5) R/w “Notwithstanding anything contained in these rules, nothing this chapter shall apply for sand quarrying within the area of coastal regulation zone (CRZ) in coastal district and shall be disposed of in accordance with the office memorandum issued by Ministry of Environment and forest, Govt. of India No.11- 83/2005-1A-III (Vol-III)/dated.8-11-2011 and as amended from time to time. Providing further that the rule 8(1-A) shall apply mutatis muntandis for sand quarrying in coastal regulation zone.” District sand Monitoring Committee (CRZ), Dakshina Kannada district headed by Deputy Commissioner as a proponent had submitted a proposal for CRZ clearance to Karnataka State Coastal Zone Management Authority (KSCZMA). And in pursuance with rules and Chairman is hereby submitting the project “Removal of sand from sand bar SB-N-03 of Nethravathi in Mangalore Taluk in “Dakshina Kannada district” for Environment Clearance (EC) to Member Secretary, SEIAA, Forest Ecology and Environment Department, Multi Store building, Bangalore. A. Location of the sand bar: Dakshina Kannada District is located N-W part of Karnataka State falls in between Latitude:N-12° 51’ 30.00” and longitude of E-74° 54’ 30.00”The District has two major estuaries viz. Nethravathi and Gurupura, The Nethravathi estuary is located in between the district, or south from Nethravathi river-mouth. The sand bar “SB-N-3” is located in Nethravathi river bed of Mangalore taluk. The Nethravathi River has its origin near the village of Mangalore taluk in the Western Ghats and flows eastwards and joint the Arabian Sea near the town of Mangalore. this river has a catchment area of 3160 Sq.Km the river flows entirely through the district of Dakshina Kannada. The river is the lifeline to some 10 lakh people in the Dakshina Kannada district and supports the livelihoods of tens of thousand of people including fishermen on the coast of Dakshina Kannada. There are many dams built across this river for the generation of electricity. One of the important dams build across Nethravathi river is the Thumbe dam at Thumbe. The river runs 184 kilometers before joining Arabian Sea. The GPS location and Chakkubandi details are follows: Sand Latitude and Sand bar boundary Chakkubandi Distance bar longitude of A,B,C,D, Latitude from sea No. sand bar points Longitude shore in KM SB- N-12° 51’ 30.00” N 12˚ 51' 24.02" North- part of sy no.65 4.00km A N3 E-74° 54’ 30.00” E 74˚ 53' 54.51" South – part of sy no.65 towards N 12˚ 51' 42.08" East- part of sy no.65 east from B E 74˚ 54' 13.90" West-part of sy no.65 Shoreline. N 12˚ 51' 39.50" C E 74˚ 54' 16.11" N 12˚ 51' 21.91" D E 74˚ 53' 56.89" B. Removable sand Assessment: A team of officers consisting of Dept. of Mines and Geology, Revenue Dept, PWD Dept. KSPCB and CRZ officials had joint inspections of the sand bars using CRZ maps along with the traditional community people by traversing in the Nethravathi river courses and identified sand bar “SB-N-03”. While identification of sand bar ecologically sensitive area and fish breeding areas (CRZ-1) were excluded. Identified area has been marked in maps. Assessment of removable sand was made by considering 0.5 meter thickness of the sand bar, but Prof. S G Mayya, the Chairman Civil Engineer Dept. NITK Surathkal in his report has made the point that it’s better to take 1.4 meter depth for removal purposed as the rivers getting replenishment on all the days of the year and it is assessed accordingly. The sand bar assessment details is as follows: Sand bar Length of Width of Area in Area in Column Approximate No. the sand the sand Acres Hectare depth of removable bar in bar in (AC) (Ha) sand bar Quantity of meter meter in meter sand in MT (SG=1.5 MT) SB-N3 800 100 19.77 8.00 0.7 84000 C. Methodology of Removal of sand: Non-mechanized dinghies or small boats are being used for removal of sand by traditional coastal community without using any machinery by using bamboo poles, baskets / buckets by human beings. The removal of sand is completely manual by human efforts by hands and collected in baskets or by bamboos scoping and collected inside the mesh. Then loaded in the nadadoni. The collected sand will be stocked at river bank owned by traditional communities / port land (dakke). The removal of sand will be continuing till the completion of specified quantity which enables the smooth navigation at the demarcated place. During removal of sand following condition will be followed by the registered traditional communities: 1. No sand should be removed wherever, bank or bed erosion is observed. 2. Sand removal activity to a distance of a minimum of 50 mtr, is not permitted around islands, mangroves, kudrus and also from both the river banks. 3. No mechanized method should be followed. 4. Materials used for removing sand should not be left back in the river. 5. Sand should be removed only during the permitted day time and not during night. 6. Any changes observed at the sand bar locations should be brought to our notice, before continuing the removal of sand. 7. If vented dams/ barrages are observed sand should not be removed to a distance of 15 mtr from both u/s and d/s cut off or solid apron. 8. Sand should not be removed at any place beyond the average river bed level. 9. No damages should be caused to environment, to the river banks and the ecological system. If any damage is observed sand removal should be stopped. 10.Sand should be removed only if the sand bars are observed at the identified locations. D. Disposal of sand: Sand is the one of the essential commodity comes under non specified minor mineral category termed as “Ordinary sand” in schedule-2 of Karnataka minor mineral concession rules 1994 to which Government of Karnataka has fixed Rs.60/- per metric ton. In Dakshina Kannada district for construction of houses, other .

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