Sankara Bridge damaged by illegal sand mining

KOCHI: The damaged Sree Sankara Bridge at Kalady is awaiting a major disaster, according to environmentalists, who point to the pillars of the bridge which have allegedly become unstable due to excessive and illegal sand mining.
Though sand mining in the area has been banned for almost a decade and a half, the mafia continues to mine sand from under the bridge.
"Under the impact of excessive mining from under the bridge, the pillars of the bridge may collapse anytime.In the absence of adequate sand deposits around these pillars, they have lost support. We had already brought the issue to the notice of authorities,'' said professor A Sitaraman, environmentalist.
"Even the Kerala high court had asked the government to ban sand mining along the one-km stretch on either side of the bridge. But the government reduced it to 500 metres. Still, no measures have been taken to rein in the sand mafia," Sitaraman said.
Following alarms raised by environmentalists, the government had restricted the passage of heavy vehicles except buses through the bridge a few years ago.
"Later, the PWD carried out some repair works. The authorities then lifted the restriction," he said.
District collector M G Rajamanickam said that a special team has been constituted to check illegal sand mining.
"There are no legal sand mining ghats in the district. But we have learnt that illegal sand mining is rampant in the area. So, we have constituted a team, comprising police and revenue officials, to conduct checking. We have constituted a flying squad for the purpose," he said.