Thiruvananthapuram: Amid protests and indefinite strike by residents of Alappad panchayat against mineral sand mining, a high-level meeting convened by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday decided to stop sea washing in the area.Sea washing is the process of separating minerals from the sand.The meeting also decided to form an expert committee to study the impact of mining in the region. The committee will be asked to submit the report at the earliest, for the government to take appropriate action, the meeting decided.The decision came ahead of the meeting between industries minister E P Jayarajan and the agitating people scheduled for 5pm on Thursday. The MLAs and people’s representatives from local bodies, in a meeting held earlier in the day and attended by the CM and ministers holding portfolios of industries, forest, fisheries and forest, had raised the demand to stop sea washing and initiate measures to protect Alappad and ensure proper rehabilitation of people affected by the mining.However, the meeting is learnt to have given permission for central PSU Indian Rare Earths Limited (IRE), which is operating the mineral sands separation plant in the region, to conduct mining in a scientific manner strictly adhering to mining norms.The government is in favour of mining, if done scientifically, the meeting noted. But mining activities will be monitored by a committee of people’s representatives to be headed by the district collector, as recommended by the state legislative assembly committee on environment.Residents of Alappad have been agitating for the past 77 days at Cheriyazheekkal, asking the government to immediately halt the mineral sand mining in the village to save the 17km sand strip where over 6,500 hapless families live.Alappad, which had an area of 89.5 sq km according to a litho map prepared in 1955, has shrunk to just 7.6 sq km now. The continuous mining of mineral sand by IRE over the past many years has submerged 20,000 acres under the sea. Mining is continuing here in 82 acres.

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