Black sand mining: Pinarayi refutes Sudheeran’s allegation

Leader of Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan has questioned Congress leader VM Sudheeran’s statement that the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government has opened doors for the private sector to mine mineral-rich black sand along the Kerala coast.

He expressed surprise that this “factually incorrect” statement came from Mr. Sudheeran at a time when he was strongly criticizing the new UDF government’s policy on black sand mining.

Mr. Sudheeran said on Thursday morning that it was the Pinarayi government that resumed sand mining operations along the Alappuzha coast and claimed that sand removal as part of desilting and dredging measures was a permanent solution to the perennial floods in Kuttanad. He alleged that the pretext was that the sand mining was done by the public sector Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd. but that the sand was bought by firms like CMRL.

Responding to Mr. Sudheeran on Facebook, Mr. Vijayan said that it was the Congress government at the Center that first gave the private sector an opportunity to do mining.

The governments of AK Antony and Oommen Chandy, in power in Kerala from 2001 to 2006, followed this lead and allowed for the privatization of black sand mining in the state. He claimed that even as strong public protests erupted over this in the wake of the tsunami disaster, the UDF government ignored them and went ahead with its decision to allow the private sector to mine black sand.

He claimed that it was the LDF government that came to power in 2006 that stood firm against allowing the private sector in black sand mining. When the private firms involved in sand mining appealed to the Union Ministry of Mines, both the Congress government and the Mines Minister took the decision in favor of the black sand lobby, he said.

However, the LDF government did not budge, following which the mining companies approached the Supreme Court against the state government’s stand.

Mr. Vijayan alleged that when the UDF returned to power in 2011, it adopted an approach of deliberately losing cases filed by mining firms. Due to strong public protests, the UDF government was unable to implement the decision to allow private companies to enter the sand mining area.

He said when the LDF returned to power in 2016, no private firm was given an opportunity to mine sand anywhere in the state for the next 10 years.

When the Center made changes in the minor minerals licensing rules in 2023 in a manner favorable to the black sand lobby, the LDF government vehemently opposed it, forcing the Center to withdraw the amendment, Mr. Vijayan said.

He said that for the last ten years, the LDF has taken an uncompromising stand against the private black sand mining lobby. It also brought forth the concept of a public sector-based rare earth corridor.

The current UDF government scrapped this in the budget and is now taking a favorable stance to allow private sector entry into black sand mining, thus toeing the line of the Union government. Mr. Vijayan argued that it is clear that the budget proposal for the establishment of the Critical Rare Earth Minerals Corridor serves the interests of the private black sand mining lobby.

It is common knowledge that UDF governments have always been in favor of allowing the private sector to enter black sand mining and Mr. Sudheeran himself has been sharply critical of the UDF’s decisions in the past.

Mr. Vijayan said Mr. Sudheeran’s sudden U-turn, leveling baseless allegations against the LDF, must be his way of counterbalancing his criticism of the government led by his own party.

Published – 25 Jun 2026 23:55 IST