Posted on August 7, 2024
Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira on Tuesday announced a proposal to allow agencies that win bids for dredging river mouths to possess and sell the extracted sand, subject to fees and government payments.
“This will help us to dredge river mouths and also make available sand to people so as to resolve the sand availability issue to some extent,” he said while replying on demand of the environment department in the state legislative assembly.
Sequeira said samples of sand to be dredged had been sent to the Goa College of Engineering and the BITS Pillani institute.
“A positive report has been received from the Goa College of Engineering. The government is waiting for a report from the BITS Pillani,” he said.
On sand mining, he said the National Institute of Oceanography has identified zones for extraction of sand in manual manner in a report submitted to the government.
“Now, the survey report of identified zones for sand mining will be prepared by district collectors and after that permits for sand mining will be issued,” he said, adding that the tender for dredging of mouth of Chapora river will be floated within 15 days.
