Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan should not forget that the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government led by him paved the way for the private black sand-mining lobby to benefit from thesand-mining operations ofthe public sector, senior Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran has said.

Mr. Sudheeran, in a rejoinder to Mr. Vijayan’s remarks that the LDF government took a firm stand against allowing the private sector in black sand-mining, said in a statement on Friday that an agreement prepared by the Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd. (KMML) general manager and superintending engineer of the Irrigation south circle on October 11, 2019 in the name of a permanent solution to the perennial flooding in Kuttanad had opened the door for the private mining lobby.

The order for removal of sand, without any study on its impact, led to black sand-mining that harmed the State’s coast and people living along it. The then Alappuzha district committee president M. Liju had launched a protest of the coastal people against the government decision on May 22, 2020. Organisations too took up the protest. Then a people’s protest, irrespective of political affiliations, took shape in 2021 and continued till January this year when it was temporarily halted in the wake of a verdict by the Kerala High Court.

According to the court verdict, a committee comprising experts and representatives of the panchayats concerned should study problems related to sand-mining. Unfortunately, the committee lacked experts and panchayat presidents and those who supported the black sand-mining lobby had been included as experts, Mr. Sudheeran alleged.

The anti-sand-mining committee has appealed to the Chief Minister for reconstituting the study committee by including experts and people’s representatives and all orders resulting in black sand-mining be cancelled.

He alleged that the CPI(M) was part of a historic protest on the Alappuzha coast against the mining permissions given by the then UDF government in 2002 but after coming to power, it had allowed black sand-mining that made life difficult for coastal people. The Pinarayi Vijayan-led government had completely ignored the protesters demand for black sand-mining not be allowed in public or private sector or in a partnership model. Mr. Vijayan was trying to hide the truth now, Mr. Sudheeran alleged.