Left government’s position on offshore sand mining along Kerala coast lacks clarity, says V.D. Satheesan

Kerala Opposition leader V.D. Satheesan (file)
| Photo Credit: K Ragesh

Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan on Saturday (March 15, 2025) asked the Left front government to bring “more clarity” on its position on the Union government’s offshore sand mining move along the Kerala coast.

The financial assistance for organising a roadshow organised by the Union Ministry of Mines in Kochi as part of the offshore sand mining project was provided by the Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd, a State-run public sector unit, said Mr. Satheesan in his inaugural address at the declaration of agitation against the offshore sand mining by the Ernakulam District Congress Committee (DCC) here.

Mr. Satheesan asked the government to make its position clear on whether its demand is to get a share of the royalty earned by the Centre from the sand mining. “The government must further clarify whether it is opposed to the offshore sand mining project or not,” he said.

He alleged that the Union government had “opened the doors to the corporates to plunder the rich sand reserves” along the Kerala coast by going ahead with the offshore sand mining project. “Though it had informed the MPs of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Parliament that an environment impact assessment will be carried out, it was an irony that the study was entrusted with the agency that had won the tender for sand mining,” he alleged.

On drug seizure

Mr. Satheesan urged the government to “stop extending political patronage to its affiliate youth organisations involved in the sale and distribution of drugs in the State.”

“The senior leadership of [Communist Party of India (Marxist)] should intervene and ask them to stay away from it,” he said.

On the seizure of drugs from the men’s hostel at the Government Polytechnic College, Kalamassery, he said the UDF and the Congress would “continue to mention about the involvement” of the Students Federation of India (SFI) in the incident as one of the key accused was the general secretary of the college union led by the federation.