Steps taken to prevent Illegal Sand Mining:
- Government has amended the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2006 to make environmental impact clearance mandatory for small-scale sand mines
- It also provided for the creation of two bodies—a District-level Expert Appraisal Committee (DEAC) to assess the environmental impact of mines and a District Environment Impact Assessment Authority (DEIAA), to prepare a District Survey Report for tabulating sand mining potential of the district and for granting clearances.
- Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has issued Sustainable Sand Mining Management Guidelines, 2016, which addresses the issues relating to regulation of sand mining.
- Ministry of Mines through the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM, has developed Mining Surveillance System to use the space technology to check illegal mining.
- Bureau of Indian Standards evolved alternatives for sand such as slag, waste from steel industry; fly ash, waste from thermal power plants; crushed over-burnt bricks; and tiles, waste from clay brick and the tile industry etc.