Poor-quality District Survey Reports help Illegal Sand Mining in MP: Reports

Madhya Pradesh has 55 districts. Out of these, 47 have active sand mining sites. But nearly half of these districts either don’t have valid District Survey Reports (DSRs) or have uploaded ones that are outdated, incomplete, or hard to read.

As per the report by Veditum India Foundation, part of the India Sand Watch project, these documents are missing basic data like coordinates, mining limits, or timelines. Some are available only as scanned PDFs. Others aren’t available at all. Most aren’t even in the local language.

DSRs are meant to guide and control sand mining. Without them, it becomes difficult to track which sites are legal, how much sand can be mined, or who is responsible when something goes wrong.

And things do go wrong

In October 2024, 13-year-old Ankush Vishwakarma drowned in a deep mining pit in Maihar, Madhya Pradesh. The pit was full of water. It had no warning signs or fencing. Officials had already declared the site illegal. But no one had closed it. No one had secured it. Ankush went there with his friends after tuition. He never came back.

His death is not the only one. Across the state, such pits are common. During the monsoon, they become especially hazardous, filling with water and turning into deadly traps. Their presence reflects a systemic failure in monitoring and oversight.

The report highlights that DSRs, key documents meant to regulate and keep track of mining—are either outdated, missing, or poorly maintained. Even district officials often don’t know where legal mining zones begin or end. This confusion creates space for illegal mining to spread.

As per the report, only about half the districts had approved DSRs on their websites. The rest had only draft versions, outdated files, or nothing at all.  Many of the accessible documents were scanned images rather than digital files, making them difficult to read, search, or extract information from. As a result, the public couldn’t verify whether a site was legal — and even government officials lacked clear, accessible data.

The team only used public websites for their research. “These documents are not meant to be accessed through special requests. They’re supposed to be public. If someone has to ask for them from district offices, we treat them as unavailable,” said Siddharth Agarwal, founder of Veditum India Foundation.

lack of basics and language problem

The report further mentions that nearly one-fourth of the DSRs lacked basic details. They didn’t show clear coordinates of mining areas. They failed to mention how much sand can be mined, for how long, or over what area. Without this information, there’s no way for local people or the media to check if mining is legal or not. It also limits the power of local officials to act, even when they want to.

Language is another issue. Most DSRs are in English, but the people most affected by sand mining live in rural areas where Hindi or other local languages are spoken. According to the report, only 16 percent of the DSRs were available in Hindi.

“These documents should ideally be in both English and the local language. But many aren’t. That’s a serious issue,” Siddharth said. “If local people can’t read them, how can they offer their feedback during the period for public comments?”

He added that public hearings only work when people understand the documents. “You can’t have meaningful input if you can’t read what’s at stake.”

The report further states that districts like Ashoknagar, Jabalpur, Katni, Khargone, Mandla, Rajgarh, and Shahdol have uploaded only draft DSRs. Others, like Maihar in Satna district, Mauganj, and Pandhurna, haven’t uploaded any DSRs at all.

In places like Bhind, where illegal sand mining is widespread, the available DSR is hard to read and doesn’t contain full data. These gaps in basic paperwork have real-world impacts.

From people to police, no one is safe

On January 31, 2025,  just a few months after Ankush’s death, a group involved in illegal mining attacked a government team in Bhind. The attack happened soon after District Collector Sanjeev Srivastav seized a tractor carrying illegally mined sand. The vehicle had no papers. After Srivastav left, a group of men assaulted the remaining team members. No one was seriously hurt, but the message was clear: illegal miners feel they can act without fear.

This was not the first attack. In 2012, IPS officer Narendra Kumar Singh died in Morena when he tried to stop an illegal tractor. It ran him over. In 2018, a forest ranger in the same district met a similar fate. These deaths made national news. But the problem hasn’t stopped. Illegal sand mining continues, and those who try to stop it face real danger.

“We’ve rarely seen accountability when illegal mining leads to death,” Siddharth said. “If an officer is killed, there may be an inquiry. But when a villager or child dies, little happens.”

He also pointed out that arrests often target only low-level workers. “It’s usually the truck driver or daily wage worker who gets blamed—not the contractors or companies who run the operation.”

The report clearly shows that missing or poor-quality DSRs protect those breaking the law. Without these documents, it’s hard to enforce rules. It’s also hard for people to raise concerns or take action.

“We’re not saying stop all mining,” Siddharth said. “But if mining is happening, let it happen legally and openly. People have the right to know what’s going on around them.”

In February this year, our reporter Abdul Wasim Ansari reported how illegal sand mining is damaging five key rivers in Rajgarh.

Rajgarh has over 300 legal sand mines spread across 350 hectares. These brought in about Rs 2 crore in revenue between 2018 and 2020. But illegal mining is still happening on a large scale. Local activist Jaipal Singh Khinchi says around 3 lakh metric tonnes of sand are taken illegally from the Suthalia area alone.

Ground Report investigations found large-scale illegal quarrying in villages like Lasudiya Meena, Kala Khedi, Semlapar, and others along the Parvati River – all outside authorised lease areas. Village sarpanch Dhanraj Gurjar confirmed these illegal operations on government land.

Poor records and limited public access have made sand mining in Madhya Pradesh difficult to track. As per the report, many districts fail to maintain and share proper District Survey Reports. This weakens checks on mining and makes the process less open. The report further mentions that the problem isn’t just a paperwork issue. It puts people’s lives in danger and helps illegal mining grow. Without clear documents, it’s harder to stop unsafe mining, respond to deaths, or hold anyone responsible. To fix the problem, the state must first fix its records.

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