mining of beach sand with monazite concentrations above 0.75%. On 20 February 2019 the Central Government issued a notification prohibiting the grant of atomic mineral rights to anyone other than the government or government agencies, effectively banning private beach sand mining. The Department of Atomic Energy issued a notification on 27 July 2019 stating that exploration rights of atomic minerals too solely rested with the government and its agencies. Public sector monopolization Since the cancelling of private leases in 2019, only government run agencies or corporations are allowed to conduct beach sand mining. This has made the public sector IREL (India) Limited the only legal beach sand mineral miner in the state. On June 11, 2021 the Ministry of Mines reserved an area of 1,144 hectares in Kanyakumari district for beach sand mineral mining and extraction by the corporation. This was the first such order in nearly 20 years as the company had been out-competed by private players who had colluded with government officials and politicians to prevent the company from getting any new leases and operating its manufacturing unit at full capacity. Impact Environmental Impact Since river sand is a natural aquifer, its depletion also means recharging of groundwater, especially wells, fall. In January 2014, the then Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry E M Sudarsana Natchiappan, stated that due to sand mining in river beds, groundwater level or water table has dropped at an alarming rate, as a result some 18 lakh (1.8 million) wells in the southern region have gone dry and water for agriculture purposes has become scarce. In Madurai, as per S Rethinavelu, senior president of CII, "Water table, which was at 50 ft or so, fell to 600 ft." Sand mining also destroys the habitat of aquatic organisms and many birds, with dredging destroying the habitat of bottom dwelling organisms, the churned up sand blocks sunlight and suffocates aquatic organisms. The Supreme Court noted that this alarming rate of sand mining is destroying riparian ecosystems and has had fatal consequences for aquatic organisms and birds. Impact on Infrastructure Sand mining has been named as one of the causes of the failure of the Mukkombu Upper Anaicut regulator dam in 2018, due to loss of sand in the riverbed, percolation of water becomes less, which makes the river more prone to overflowing, which can damage infrastructure such as dams and barrages. Political Impact