Three weeks ago a Grade 12 student from Alappad in Kerala’s Kollam district was seen in a viral video that was trying to portray a message, in the video, Kavya was seen explaining what the impact was of black sand mining to the environment in her Village.
Three weeks later, the same video is now used in campaigns in Kerala. This video is now being used in anti-mining campaigns in the heart of Kerala. In the video Kavya said, she is afraid of the fact that her village might get removed from the map due to heavy excavation works that are being done by tow public-sector companies. This video has now aired on big news channels, social media platforms, and even radio stations across the country.
Black sand mining is usually done in the coastal areas. Alappad and other villages in southern Kerala has an abundant source of black sand, during the process of black sand mining important minerals like zircon, monazite, rutile, and ilmenite are extracted.
It has been nearly 55 years since sand mining was started in Alappad, the company that is being held responsible for the sand mining is the Centre’s Indian Rare Earths Limited and the Kerala Minerals and Metals Limited.
Even if there were a number of protests done by the locals against those companies, the mining companies are still undisturbed and are still continuing black sand mining.
Kavya said: “In the video, all I have done is express the pain of the people in my village. It’s not a political speech. In my own little way, I’m happy I could contribute to the cause and I’m glad that the public of Kerala is supporting us. To see the land beneath our feet sink away is an extremely sad sight. Today, the mining works are at the northern end of Alappad, but there’s a fear in people’s minds that very soon a JCB will land at our doorstep,”
A hunger strike is currently being held in Alappad, their main objective is to stop all the mining activities in their village. They have now completed 70 days.
Chandradas a former fisherman and the chairman of the protests said: “During the floods in August 2018, when people were stuck in their houses in areas like Chengannur and Pandanad, 465 fishermen from Alappad alone took their boats and rescued thousands. Before anybody asked us, we did our duty. Today, we are asking Kerala to save our land,”
He added: “During protests in earlier years, the mining companies were able to coerce our leaders to end the fight by offering them plum posts. But the youth of today cannot be bought. We have worked very hard,”