Chapter III PROTECTION OF RIVER BANKS AND BIO-PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT SYSTEMS OF THE RIVER

(1) The Grama Panchayat or the Municipality concerned shall, before carrying out the sand removal operation obtain passes from the Geology Department which shall issue them on the recommendation of the District Expert Committee for a period of one month in advance, on payment of royalty as provided for in the law applicable for the payment of royalty.\n(2) No sand removal operation shall be carried out in a Kadavu before 7 a.m. and after 4 p.m.\n(3) The Grama Panchayat or Municipality concerned shall subject to the other provisions of this Act and the rules made thereunder, make necessary arrangements to carry out the sand removal operations.\n(4) Removal of sand shall be permitted only from the riverbed and no sand removal operation shall be done within 15 metres of the river bank.\n(5) No sand removal operation shall be carried out within a distance of 500 metres from any bridge or any irrigation project or pumping station of water supply projects or check dams or from their retaining wall or the venue of any religious or cultural activities conducted on river bank or the sand bank in river or in part of the river.\nExplanation.—For the purpose of this sub-section, the expression “water supply project’’ shall have the same meaning as assigned in Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation Act, 2003 (31 of 2003).\n(6) The vehicle for loading sand shall be parked at a distance of at least 25 metres from the river bank, and no vehicle shall be brought to the river bank for loading.\n(7) No sand removal shall be done in a Kadavu or river bank in excess of the quantity fixed by the District Expert Committee.\n(8) No 'Kollivala', pole scooping or any mechanized method shall be carried out in the sand removal operation.\n(9) No sand removal shall be done where there is likelihood of saline water mixing with river water.\n(10) No sand removal shall be done in a river or in any river bank where Government have expressly prohibited the same by general or special order.\n(11) The sand removal operations in a kadavu and transportation of such sand shall be carried out, only subject to such conditions and restrictions, as may be prescribed.

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, or in any decree or order of any Court, the Government may, for sufficient reasons by general or special order, direct for the closure of a Kadavu opened for sand removal.\n(2) The District Collector may notify the ban on sand removal from any river or river bank during any period particularly during monsoon season in a year based on a report from the District Expert Committee or otherwise that dredging of sand disturbs the bio-physical environment system of the river:\nProvided that the order of ban shall not extend beyond a period of two weeks at a time, which may be extended for a further period not exceeding two weeks.\n(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law, for the time being in force, the provisions of the Land Conservancy Act, 1957 or the provisions of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 shall apply for the removal of any encroachment or obstruction in any river bank or Kadavu.\n(4) The Government may notify the rivers and the period for which and removal from such rivers shall not be allowed.

(1) The Kadavu Committee shall, after taking into account the availability and accessibility of sand in any area, fix the price of sand for each Kadavu. (2) The price to be fixed under sub-section (1) shall be by public auction. (3) The price of sand to be fixed by public auction shall include expenses towards loading sand in vehicle and the labour charges as fixed by the Kadavu Committee.

(1) Every Local Authority in the State having Kadavu or river bank for sand removal shall maintain such Kadavu or river bank in a safe condition and protect its bio-physical environment system by taking effective steps to control river bank sliding. (2) Every local authority shall erect concrete pillars at the Kadavu or river bank in such a way that no vehicle shall have direct access to the bank of the river. (3) The local authority shall establish a check post at each Kadavu or riverbank and maintain proper account of the sand removed from the Kadavu. (4) Bamboo and "Attuvanchi" may be planted on the river bank with the help of Forest Department to control river bank sliding. (5) All places, where sand removal and transportation are possible other than the places where the Kadavus are permitted, shall be closed by putting up of chains and pillars so as to ensure that no vehicles are taken to river bank and no illegal sand removal and transportation are carried on: Provided that the closure of such places shall no affect any right accrued to any person under the Indian Easement Act, 1882 (Central Act 5 of 1882). (6) the areas from where sand is permitted to be removed shall be demarcated by visible marks. (7) All country boats used for collection and removal of sand and such other vehicles coming under the Explanation to section 23 shall be given separate identity number and no permission shall be given for collection and removal of sand in the vehicles having no such number.