Thousands of silica mining workers of Jamuna basin in Allahabad have been up in arms against being rendered jobless by illegal mechanization of sand mining from the river by big mafia in collusion with the corrupt bureaucracy and police.

Workers have already held two big public meetings to mobilize support, a protest meeting at the tehsil office and a demonstration of 1500 strong at the District Collector ate to press their demands. While the struggle continues, the main challenge is from the armed goonda gangs of the mafia who secure the river bank with arms and have a close nexus with the village landlords. Already a number of minor clashes have taken place and the unity of the village poor has had the upper hand, a new experience for all the villagers. Workers from all caste backgrounds have unitedly withstood the threats, refused to do their work and counter-threatened them.

The ongoing procedure of mining in the river is by manual excavation of sand from the river bed by teams of 10 to 12 workers per boat. The boat load of sand is then sold to contractors who stock the sand on plots of land adjacent to the river bank. The contractors pay the boat owner value for the sand which is dependent on the prevailing market price of sand and the amount is divided amongst the excavation team, the boat owner getting one share for the boat. Before dividing the amount received, the team pays banking charges to the owner of the bank where the boat is parked during off loading and excavation charges to the person who provides them the excavation (mining) permit from the mining department. This permit is for one boat of sand and is charged at Rs. 100 but a receipt of only Rs. 10 is given. The excess charge of Rs. 90 and the bank parking charges are entirely illegal. Normally the control of the bank, the plots of land and the permits from the mining department wrest with the big mafia who have their armed men at the bank to get the collection done. Though there are a number of petty dealers also, overall control is with the mafia.

In this area there are about 6 to 7 big and small sand mandis directly involving the people of about 20 and indirectly many more villages. The big contractors who stock the sand pay for the excavation costs and the rent of the land and finally sell the sand for about double the value they have invested. This is a business that involves sale of almost 500 to 600 trucks of sand sold on any given day, each providing a profit of at least Rs. 500, which can double depending on the construction market.

Such a huge daily turnover is not only lucrative business for the contractors, but also for the police and the Mines department in the district. They are hand in glove with the contractors and they undermine the rules and regulations with impunity.

The armed goons on the riverside use their might to underpay the thousands of workers involved in the loading and unloading of trucks as well as help to extract extra payment in lieu of permits and to control the plots of land and the banks. Though specific complaints have not come in large numbers, these contractors are also involved in extending the limits of their stocking plots and encroaching on other poor people’s land and this is an important issue for the future.

The two big mafia involved in this mining 'business' are one BJP MLA, Udaybhan Karwaria and one Samajwadi Party MLA, Vijma Yadav. Both have a criminal background.

For a long time these contractors have been trying to increase the amount charged in lieu of the mining permit and every time they did so they met with resistance from the boat owners in the form of spontaneous strikes. These boat owners who belong only to the Mallah community, which has been traditionally involved with sand mining, form the main basis of this resistance. Apart from these unsuccessful attempts, the contractors also tried to install big machines (pumps) for sand excavation about one year back. Led by AIKMS a huge demonstration was held at the district mines office and immediately one of these machines was removed while the other, in village Jagdishpur stayed on without doing much work.

The legal position as far as sand mining is concerned is that it is covered as a minor mineral for which UP government has made specific rules. These clearly state that mining shall be done through mining leases and “No person shall acquire in respect of any minor mineral, one or more mining leases covering a total area of more than thirty acres.” (Section 10 of UP Minor Mineral (Concession) Rules, 1963) With regard to preferential right for such leases, it is stated to be reserved for persons of socially and educationally backward communities “traditionally engaged in the excavation of sand/morrum for their livelihood.” (Section 9A) Here the caste backgrounds too have been clearly defined as “Mallah, Kewat, Bind, Nishad ... and other such castes.”

Now gradually Vijma Yadav increased her machines from 1 to 3 and Karwaria also installed one machine. A flash strike and a follow up strike by the boatmen did not stop these exploiters and the local thana, the SID of the area and the mines office just refused to act. In fact the SDM Mines openly said that the contractors claim they have a stay order from the High Court and I have asked them to give me a copy.

These machines do not just violate the law, they have resulted in depressing the value of each boat full of sand worth Rs. 1200 to about Rs. 400 to 500. These machines extract several boat loads of sand every hour while each boat load takes about 4 hours for the labour to extract. Moreover when the machines extract sand, the sand is sucked out from large tracts of the river bed up stream and there is no meaning left for the 30 acre plots of river bed. Not only this, rapid excavation of sand will result in rapid displacement of sand upstream and will surely lead the river to change its course threatening entire villages with being washed away.

The law enforcers stood behind some changes in rules by the Mulayam Singh government in order to bend the rules and favour the big contractors. It was explained, though not officially stated, that there is no 30 acre limit any more, reservation has been done away with and mechanization has been permitted. Such has been the unity amongst the corrupt officials of the mines department with the contractors, that they refused to part with copies of the new Government Orders.

Only later it was clear that the new GOs issued by the SP government have done away with the entire reservation clause (9A) and the 30 acre lease limits on 22nd June, 2004, though it has retained in one line elsewhere permit to take lease will be given only to those ‘traditionally engaged’ and for ‘their livelihood’. It could not be clarified when the government has undone the limitation of not permitting machines (A GO issued in the year 2000 clearly bans use of machines). Later of course, probably because of a Supreme Court judgement on this question, another GO issued on 16th October 2004 again brought back the list of reserved castes which are traditionally engaged in excavation of sand for their livelihood, but again at a different place under the rules. The original clause 9A stood scrapped and this has been used by the officials to grant largesse to big contractors.

This is not an isolated case. Generally Mulayam Government has been following World Bank dictates with its officials sitting in Lucknow to guide government’s policies. They are undermining people’s traditional trades and handing over India’s natural wealth, resources and cheap labour markets to big contractors, multinational companies and comprador capitalist class of India. The main team constituted by him for development of people includes only such forces who are out to sell interests of the people and their traditional rights over nature. The idea of development for the rulers, including the so-called caste samajwad of Mulayam Singh excludes the people from its ambits and precludes all possibilities of their development.

Of the demands raised by AIKMS in the protest, other demands of miners like payment of minimum wage, schools, hospitals, interest free loans, bonus, ESI, establishment of mining permit office in the area rather than at the district headquarters, registration of boats with permission only to them for mining etc. were raised. The administration has said it will follow the law, but it has not shown the willingness to do so.

The minor mineral rules also cover the excavation of gravel and building boulders. This also involves lakhs of workers in the entire hilly and rocky areas of Shankargarh block and in fact the entire state. Here too the same rules of reservation should apply and leases should be given for those traditionally engaged in the work. But here too it is the big fish who hold sway and the fight is longer as the specific right of being ‘traditionally engaged’ and ‘for livelihood’ needs to be established. The real situation here is so bad that these workers are not given plots for dwellings and those who have some land are not permitted to mine the stones and sell it in order to make the land tillable.