Sandmining lays siege to a sanctuary

A spot check found few measures to stop illegal sandmining in the Chambal sanctuary. Deep indentations now sit where natural sand would have accumulated through the river's flow, with only a few gharials and dolphins left

- Jasjeev Gandhiok

The vast floodplains stretching along the Chambal river in Madhya Pradesh are baking under the searing summer sun. In Morena, the temperature has soared past 45°C. In Khajuraho, it touched 47.4°C.

But just off NH-44 outside Morena, respite lurks in the form of an unlikely oasis. Here at the Eco Park in Deori, around 240 gharials luxuriate in the cool shade of specially designed covered enclosures — each filled with fine river sand from the Chambal river and small water tanks to mimic their natural habitat - protecting them from the harsh sun and predators. These reptiles are between one and three, with the oldest residents to be released at the Chambal Wildlife Sanctuary towards the end of the year.

The gharials are lucky. Outside the manicured 3.5-acre park, just 15km away, the natural habitat of the animals — what should be undulating and wide undisturbed floodplains consisting of sand from the Chambal river - looks ravaged. Large craters scar the banks of the Chambal with clear evidence of sandmining leaving deep indentations where once natural sand would have accumulated through the river's flow. The riverbank—which once acted as the nesting site for the gharials and accounted for nearly 80-90% of the entire global wild gharial population - is degraded, with deep pits pockmarking the floodplain landscape. Craters now sit where sand should have been.

“We have seen sandmining take place here for almost three decades now. While it was out in the open in the early 2000s, it is largely limited to night these days. At the end of the day, mining has not stopped, despite interventions,” said a senior Madhya Pradesh forest department official who has worked in the area for the last 36 years.

Sandmining first reared its head in the area in the late 1990s. And even as courts have been at pains to reiterate bans and underline the curbs, little has changed on the ground.