The Kerala High Court has stepped in to regulate sand and soil removal from the Thottappally spillway in Alappuzha district, directing the state’s chief secretary to set up a high-level committee to assess whether such activity can be carried out without harming the local ecology.
A bench led by Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Syam Kumar V M said any decision on sand mining at the spillway must be guided by a scientific and environmental assessment. The court made it clear that removal of sand or soil from the spillway or nearby sand bars can take place only after inputs are obtained from the proposed committee.
The panel is to be constituted within two months and will be headed by the Alappuzha District Collector. It will include senior officials or experts from the Irrigation or Water Resources Department, the Forest and Wildlife Department, the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority, representatives from the Purakkad and Thakazhy grama panchayats, and a locally active NGO with relevant expertise. The committee has been tasked with suggesting, determining, and monitoring all aspects of sand or soil removal after evaluating its ecological and environmental impact.
The court’s order came on petitions filed by the Green Roots Nature Conservation Forum and an Alappuzha resident, Arjunan. They had challenged a District Collector’s order permitting sand removal from the spillway as part of measures to address recurring monsoon flooding in the Kuttanad region. The Collector’s order had cited the need to ensure smooth flow of water from the Pampa, Manimala, and Achankovil rivers through the spillway.
The petitioners, however, alleged that the stated flood-control objective was a cover for continuous and unregulated extraction of mineral-rich sand. They claimed that sand removal over the past few years had already led to the destruction of nearly 15 acres of an ecologically sensitive area. According to them, the site is a turtle nesting ground falling under the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 2011, and is used by Olive Ridley and Hawksbill turtles, both protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act.
After hearing all stakeholders, the bench noted that while flood prevention is a legitimate concern, the “modalities and means” to balance it with ecological protection were inadequate. The judges stressed that environmental consequences cannot be ignored, particularly as the area falls within the jurisdiction of the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority.
The court said continuous monitoring by a committee comprising officials and experts would help ensure that flood mitigation efforts at the Thottappally spillway do not turn into a routine mineral sand mining exercise. With these observations, the High Court disposed of the petitions, directing the state to put the committee in place and regulate future action accordingly.
