Better late than never

The Deputy Commissioner of Chümoukedima has taken a bold and overdue step by banning heavy machinery for riverbed extraction. This is a laudable response to a growing ecological crisis that threatens water security, livelihoods and biodiversity across the state. By disallowing excavators and similar equipment for removing sand, gravel and boulders except where permitted under the Nagaland Ownership and Transfer of Land and its Resources Act, 1990 and the Nagaland Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 2004, the order validates long-standing warnings from scientists and local communities about the damage wrought by unregulated river mining. Riverbeds are not inert landscapes to be quarried at will. Their sands and gravels function as living infrastructure, allowing rainwater to percolate, recharging groundwater and moderating river flows. Heavy extraction destroys that capacity. As sediments are stripped away, groundwater tables fall, wells dry up and irrigation becomes uncertain. For farming communities that depend on predictable water cycles, the consequences are immediate: crop yields decline and food security is jeopardized. The environmental fallout compounds the human toll. Removing sediment alters channel shape and increases flow speed and turbidity, eroding fish spawning grounds and displacing amphibians and invertebrates. Biodiversity dwindles as habitats degrade and food webs unravel. Riverbanks, no longer supported by stabilizing sediment, collapse into the channel, taking farmland, roads and houses with them. Downstream reservoirs and canals fill with silt, reducing storage capacity and increasing flood risk. Even coastal zones feel the impact: diminished sediment delivery accelerates shoreline retreat and undermines estuaries and mangrove systems that defend against storms and support fisheries. There is also a corrosive social and political dimension to unregulated sand and boulder mining. Illegal operations often thrive where oversight is weak and illicit networks link contractors, local officials and criminal actors. The result is a perverse transfer of wealth and risk- profits flow to a few while marginalized communities shoulder environmental degradation and weakened governance. Tackling this problem therefore requires both ecological restoration and strengthened rule of law. The ban order issued by the DC Chümoukedima, backed by the prospect of arrest, fines and seizure of equipment- sends a necessary message that extractive excess will no longer be tolerated. Yet prohibitions alone cannot reverse the damage. Meaningful recovery will demand sustained scientific monitoring, active participation by local communities and investment in alternatives such as manufactured sand and controlled, low-impact extraction where needed. Reclamation and river-restoration programs must be adequately funded and rigorously enforced. Communities should be empowered to help manage and protect their water resources. Protecting riverbeds is not an optional preference; it is a matter of survival. If policymakers, enforcement agencies and citizens fail to act decisively against illegal and destructive mining, the costs will be paid in vanishing species, collapsing landscapes and livelihoods lost to water scarcity and flooding. Therefore, the Deputy Commissioner’s ban is a vital first step. To safeguard both development and the ecosystems that sustain it, authorities must now follow through with concrete, lasting measures that restore balance between human needs and the natural systems on which those needs depend.