Sand Mining
The scale of sand mining has increased significantly over the past two decades, driven by real estate development and construction activities. Sand mining has led to severe environmental degradation, causing alterations in river courses, collapse of river banks, affecting marine life and the livelihood of fishing communities. Across the Mandovi, Chapora, Zuari and Tiracol rivers, illegal sand mining operations have also skyrocketed. In 2019, the state government commissioned the National Institute of Oceanography to study the impact of sand mining across the four main rivers in Goa to help resume sand mining with specific precautions. The Goa State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (Goa-SEIAA) approved 4 environmental clearances (ECs) for the Chapora River in 2021 and approved 12 ECs for the Mandovi and Zuari rivers in 2025 for sand mining.
The Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notifications in 2011 and 2019, along with the 2018 Supreme Court and 2019 High Court hearings banned sand mining in CRZ areas. In 2024, the government appealed to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to amend the CRZ notification to allow sand extraction in the CRZs. Sand mining in CRZs has led to the loss of agricultural land and forest cover through river submersion caused by sand erosion, loss of plantations and crops due to saltwater ingress, increased water levels that affect the stability of bridges, and an overall increase in vulnerability to flooding.
However, these clearances and other sand mining operations undertaken by the state government and sand mafias have been challenged in a coordinated effort by villages and by the Goa River Sand Protection Network (GRSPN) - a network of activists, including ordinary residents, environmentalists, and lawyers from across the state who campaign against illegal and exploitative sand mining operations in court. The GRSPN has filed petitions to the High Court and has appealed to the NGT against sand mining. The GRSPN has successfully challenged the ECs granted by the Goa-SEIAA for the Chapora, Mandovi, and Zuari rivers, with its 2021 and 2025 petitions resulting in their withdrawal in 2024 and 2026, respectively, along with an interim ban in place until April 2026.
