The SAND Story……

Construction Industry Writhing in Pain

Dr.Aswath M U, Professor, Civil Engineering, BIT, Bangalore

SAND, the material substance, which was considered to be unconscious, suddenly transforms into a conscious material with the advent of a new generation architectural manmade stone- The Concrete as it is generally known. It has now attained a Hero status in India ticking the very nerves of politicians, bureaucrats and technocrats demanding its right for survival from human greed. Infrastructure development in India is accelerating. In spite of construction industry’s estimated contribution INR 670,778 crores to the national GDP in 2011-12 (a share of around 8%), construction industry is writhing in pain facing many challenges, to be addressed soon by all the concerned in terms of performance and delivery capacity without compromising quality, safety and time schedules. The significant impact of dredging over fish depletion, landslides, flooding etc cannot be ignored but to be taken into consideration while arriving at an alternate solution. Countries such as China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Cambodia ban sand exports, citing these issues as a major factor.

The Demand

 Due to the growth of construction industry and major infrastructure projects, there is a huge demand for sand as a building material. This leads to acute shortage of river sand for the construction purpose.

Sand Mining- is a practice that is used to extract sand, mainly through an open pit. However, sand is also mined from beaches, inland dunes and dredged from ocean beds and river beds. It is often used in manufacturing as an abrasive, for example, and it is used to make concrete. As communities grow, construction requires less wood and more concrete.

Leading to a demand for low-cost sand.  Sand is also used to replace eroded coastline.  Sand mining is a practice that is becoming an environmental issue in India. Environmentalists have raised public awareness of illegal sand mining in India.