Introduction
The India Sand Watch team spent the last two weeks of February & a little bit of early March in Chhatarpur and Gwalior districts of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. This was part of our ongoing effort to protect the state’s two border rivers – the Ken and the Chambal – from illegal sand mining, and create templates and strategies to extend this protection to other rivers in the state and across the country.
The team hosted a few Convenings, organised Data Sprints, and other events with place based actors and stakeholders.
Convening on Rivers, Chhatarpur
We kick started the field visit with a two-day convening on rivers in Chhatarpur district, attended by local journalists, lawyers, and activists. Our conversations with these inspiring grassroots activists helped us develop a deeper understanding of the sand mining issue along the Ken, and the increasingly dangerous but critical role of citizen action in curbing illegal mining activities.
While learning about ground realities and requirements from the attendees, we also shared our learnings on the media landscape and gaps in governance of sand mining in the state. This exchange of knowledge helped us co-develop some potential action pathways to introduce accountability in the rampant, illegal sand mining along the Ken river.
The India Sand Watch team shared some of the tools we have been developing since our last convening in Bhopal, including an evidence building toolkit, methods to archive critical evidence of mining, and a framework to assess District Survey Reports (DSRs) (DSRs are critical governance documents that identify where and how mining can take place).
Site visits to sand mines
After wrapping up the convening in Chhatarpur, we visited some sand mining sites on the Ken river. The roads leading to the first mining site close to Rampur ghat, were jammed with trucks laden with sand, and the air was gritty and dusty. The scale of the operation was huge with multiple excavators, pandubbi (submersible motors attached with pipes used to extract sand from riverbeds), and trucks. Illegalities in the mode of mining were sighted such as in-stream mining, creation of temporary roads that obstruct river flow for machines to access the river.
On the other site, as we stood on a bridge that rumbled violently every time an overburdened truck hurtled past, we observed large scale mining operations on the river with multiple large machines illegally extracting sand from within the river, accessed by bundhs that had been constructed (again, illegally).
The next day, the team spent the morning in Khajuraho, soaking in the history and culture of the region while visiting the ancient temple complex – mesmerized by the incredible architecture of the temples, adorned with intricate carvings. After a quick lunch, a visit to the Ken Gharial Sanctuary and Raneh falls, and meeting old friends along the Ken to discuss other distressing challenges facing the river (including a dam and proposed river-linking project), we travelled across the state to Gwalior.
With Gwalior as our base, we drove past hundreds of trucks and tractors piled high with the sand to visit some nearby mining sites on the Chambal river, and villages adjoining these sites, with our partners from the Wildlife Conservation Trust – India.
A few of the mining sites were temporarily inactive due to recent violent altercations between miners and local farmers, which gave us a rare chance to walk along the sand banks and witness up close the magnificence of the banks, and the flora and fauna that depend on it.
Driving along kaccha roads damaged by excessive mining traffic and large piles of illegally stockpiled sand, we eventually ended our day on the old Rajghat bridge, which we had stood on nearly two years earlier on our first team visit to the Chambal. Our memories of this stretch of the river – of spotting muggers and gharials on the vast sand banks, watching eagles and foxes in the rocky cliffs, seeing river islands dotted with Indian Skimmers and other birds – were a far cry from what we witnessed this time round (Read our notes from field of visiting the Chambal River, including list of wildlife sightings in 2024).
The sand banks on either side of the bridge, and precariously close to the pillars supporting the (rail and highway) bridges, were covered with backhoes, and poclain machines relentlessly digging up sand and piling it into a seemingly endless line of tractors. The previously intact sand bank was now scarred by intensive mining activity, and deep pits of stagnant water.
Two gharial sat on the edge of the devastated bank, overshadowed by the large machinery digging up their habitat. The experience was a heartbreaking and visceral reminder of the importance and urgency of the work we are trying to do.
Proceedings in Gwalior
DSR Data Sprint, Gwalior
The next day, we hosted a data sprint in Gwalior, where participants were divided into pairs and chose a district for which they were taught to review the District Survey Report (DSR). The India Sand Watch team has developed a template for reviewing the adherence of a DSR to National and State guidelines on sand mining.
We were thrilled to observe that the participants were able to use the framework fairly easily, and even came up with their own insights on the violations they were finding. At the end of the sprint, participants expressed a feeling of empowerment in being able to read, understand, and critically review a policy document, and some were keen to apply this learning to their work as lawyers and journalists!
Check out the report card (including a playlist of the music we worked to!) from the data sprint at this link: India Sand Watch Data Sprints
Interested in doing such an assessment for your state, or co-hosting a data sprint? Email us at sandwatch@veditum.org.
Convening on Rivers & Media Workshop, Gwalior
We spent our last day in Gwalior hosting two back-to-back events in collaboration with WCT-India, Awaaz Leadership Labs, India Water Portal, and Project WIND. We started off the day with a convening on rivers, followed by a media workshop on environmental reporting.
The convening brought together actors from different backgrounds to learn about sand mining, and discuss issues facing their rivers. Participants were visibly shocked when shown the visuals from our previous day’s trip to the Chambal sand mines, and were eager to understand the situation more deeply through conversations with our partners and the ISW team presentations on the mining landscape in MP.
The media workshop began with the ISW team sharing preliminary insights into the existing landscape of media reporting on sand mining in MP, based on the work being done by our current intern – Raya Sarkar. This helped in identifying lacunae in reporting and opened up a discussion on the challenges of reporting on such a dangerous and poorly understood issue.
Ajay and Rohini from India Water Portal engaged the participants in an interactive presentation on Writing About Water, and offered some useful tips on pitching environmental stories to an editor. Tarun from WCT-India then gave a presentation on the environmental impacts of sand mining, many of which were informed by his own work, research, and experience working with gharial on the Chambal.
We wrapped up the day with a group discussion on citizen action, and conversations on collaborative pathways for action to tackle this systemic problem.
Are you a journalist reporting on the environment or rivers in India? Write to us at sandwatch@veditum.org to be added to our press mailing list!
Moving Forward
The team left Madhya Pradesh tired and shaken by the brazen illegality of the sand mining on the Ken and Chambal, but hopeful that local actors and stakeholders felt empowered and inspired to work together to protect these beautiful rivers.
With our focus on the rivers of Madhya Pradesh, we have learnt and created processes and templates to understand sand mining governance, identified gaps in policy and implementation, and created pathways for action.
We intend to expand this focus and need your eyes on the ground! If you have seen sand mining, work with rivers or riverine communities, or just care about rivers in your state – consider joining us for a regional data sprint, workshop or convening.
Attendees are also included in regional action groups where we share important updates, actions, and support to protect rivers from illegal sand mining at a regional level.
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