POST
PRODUCTION
SCRIPT
FOREIGN
CORRESPONDENT
2017
India
–Line in the Sand
24
mins 34 secs
©2017
ABC
Ultimo Centre
700
Harris Street Ultimo
NSW
2007 Australia
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Box 9994
Sydney
NSW
2001 Australia
Phone: 61 2 8333 4383
Fax: 61 2 8333 4859
e-mail thompson.haydn@abc.net.au
Précis |
The
world is running low on sand. It’s a basic ingredient in construction – think
skyscrapers, shopping malls, roads and windows – and cities are growing
faster and bigger than at any time in history. |
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|
In
India, where the government promises to build the equivalent of a “new
Chicago” every year, the demand is insatiable. Its construction industry is
said to have tripled its sand consumption since 2000. |
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|
Legal
supply can’t keep up. So now organised criminals are hitting pay dirt,
pillaging millions of tonnes of sand from the nation’s beaches, riverbeds and
hillsides. Construction wants sand hewn by water, not by wind. So it’s
waterways, not deserts, that face devastation. |
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|
“This
is probably the largest scam ever in our country,”
Sumaira Abdulali tells Foreign
Correspondent. The activist was beaten and hospitalised when she blocked
trucks taking sand from her local beach. |
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She
at least has her life. The sand mafia is prepared to kill. Ask farmer
Brijmohan Yadav. He took on illegal sand miners and was kidnapped and beaten.
He now lives in hiding, away from his family, in fear for his life and
theirs. |
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Or
Akaash Chauhan, whose father was asleep at home when three men stormed in and
shot him dead. He had complained about the sand mafia trashing communal land.
Akaash’s brother died mysteriously a year later. |
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|
“My
father’s fight has become my fight,”
Akaash tells reporter Samantha Hawley. “Sand mining is ongoing – my father
was against it, I am against it and so is my family.” |
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|
Akaash
names the chief murder suspect, then bravely guides the Foreign Correspondent team to where illegal miners are working.
As the team films, a tall man materialises and confronts them. His name is
Sonu. He is the accused killer. The crew must decide - stay or go? |
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Despite
a near-blanket ban on unlicensed sand mining across India, the sand mafia
operates with near impunity. |
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“I
have to give money to the inspector and the officer at the checkpoint,”
says a tractor driver, adding that what’s left after the bribe is barely
enough for food. He is one of the sand mafia’s many foot soldiers. |
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At best, officials are blind to the obvious. “No mafia… You are probably mistaken in believing that sand mining is going on here,” protests a magistrate in charge of an area where illegal mining is carried out routinely and brazenly in full daylight. |
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With authorities paralysed by inertia or corruption, it’s up to a small band of activists to take the fight to the sand mafia and expose the dirty secret at the heart of India’s construction frenzy. |
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Construction sites |
Music |
00:00 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: It’s one of the most ambitious building drives in history as India fast tracks its way to prosperity. But the boom has spawned a vicious illegal trade. |
00:07 |
Hawley in darkness
walking with men |
[shining torch into the darkness] “We’re seeing someone there. We’re
just a bit reluctant to… it’s a really kind of hairy situation and we’re not
sure it’s really safe for us to go any further”. |
00:22 |
Men at sand mine |
Crime gangs specialising in environmental destruction. |
00:30 |
Hawley with Akaash at
his home |
“And the assailant came down from here yeah?” AKAASH CHAUHAN: “This is the room and they came from this side and
shot my father”. |
00:35 |
Stills of bed on which
father was killed |
FX: Gunshots |
00:41 |
Hawley with man at
sand mine |
MAN: This is not allowed. SAMANTHA HAWLEY: And prepared to kill anyone in their way. |
00:45 |
Title fades up over
city skyline: |
|
00:51 |
Fishermen on river |
Music |
01:00 |
Super: |
|
01:08 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: These are the native fishermen of India’s biggest
city. Koli men who have fished Mumbai’s Thane river for generations, long
before the city became India’s financial hub. It’s so polluted, the fish
stopped living here long ago, |
01:30 |
Men mining sand |
but the men have found a new livelihood – fishing for sand. These days
mining for sand is almost as valuable as mining for gold thanks to a massive
construction boom. |
01:49 |
Men diving for sand |
The men free dive for about two minutes at a time, as many as two
hundred times a day. What they’re doing is illegal and dangerous. |
02:11 |
|
SUMAIRA ABDULALI: “They don’t even have a safety rope when they go
down and of course no diving equipment. They dive down 40 or 50 feet without
equipment for eight hours a day. |
02:29 |
Sumaira interview |
A lot of them die because they get swept away. These are tidal creeks.
There are strong tidal currents”. |
02:38 |
Men diving for sand |
|
02:44 |
Sumaira watching men
dive |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Sumaira Abdulali is on a mission to expose the
powerful people behind this black market trade, a network of organised
criminals who run illegal sand mining across the country. This operation is a
very modest example and Sumaira considers these fishermen not as criminals,
but as victims of what they call the “sand mafia”. |
02:49 |
|
SUMAIRA ABDULALI: “At the very lowest level they are people who are
completely helpless and who are, for the sake of a livelihood, are suffering
great hardships |
03:15 |
Sumaira interview |
and human rights violations to execute the sand mafia’s agenda. This
is probably the largest scam ever in our country”. |
03:25 |
Beach shots |
Music |
03:35 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “This is a part of India that not everyone gets to
enjoy. |
03:47 |
Hawley to camera
walking along beach |
More and more people are moving to the cities and the construction
industry is booming. In the next ten years, it’s set to be in the top three
in the world and that’s why sand is India’s new gold”. |
03:51 |
|
Music |
04:05 |
City construction |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Sand is the
key to the construction industry which employs more than 35 million people
here. |
04:15 |
|
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has promised to build the equivalent of
a new Chicago every year. That will take colossal amounts of concrete and for
concrete, you need sand. It’s not just a problem here, globally demand far
outstrips the legal supply of sand – but India is one of the worst offenders.
With so much money to be made, riverbeds and beaches are being plundered with
the mafia stopping at nothing, including murder, to get the sand. |
04:26 |
Hawley walks with
Sumaira on beach |
Sumaira Abdulali became aware of the problem more than a decade ago
when she discovered sand was being stolen from her local beach, a boat ride
from Mumbai. |
05:10 |
|
“Ah yes so you can see where it’s just, the land’s gone. This is where
a major sand mining was happening right here was it, yeah?” |
05:24 |
Sumaira shows mining
activity |
SUMAIRA ABDULALI: “Yes, yes. So you can see that the beach itself used
to be at the height that that land is now and the whole level of sand has
dropped by about 10 feet”. SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “10 feet!” SUMAIRA ABDULALI: “10 feet or |
05:29 |
|
more and they would take away sand in trucks. They would cross this
creek which you can see at low tide - and bullock carts, tens of bullock
carts at a time every day. And now it’s just gone”. SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “Yeah, they’ve really destroyed. You can see the
destruction can’t you?” SUMAIRA ABDULALI: “They’ve really destroyed it. Yes”. |
05:42 |
Beach devastation |
SAMANTHA ABDULALI: “There’s loads of sand in the desert but this is
the sand that they need for construction isn’t it? So this is a special sand.
This is the gold?” SUMAIRA ABDULALI: “This is the special sand because when you look at
the sand, I mean if you look at it closely you know it sticks. |
05:59 |
Sumaira holds sand |
You see this?” SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “Yes”. SUMAIRA ABDULALI: “It sticks and the reason is that this sand has an
uneven particle size and that’s what makes it stick |
06:11 |
|
and gives strength to a building. If you take desert sand and do this,
you will see that it flies apart because it’s very rounded, the edges are
rounded”. |
06:21 |
Hawley and Sumaira
walk along beach |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Sumaira was told she’d have to catch the culprits
red-handed for authorities to take any action. So she did. She used her own
car to stop a truck driving out from the beach. SUMAIRA ABDULALI: “They bashed up the car, |
06:30 |
Sumaira interview |
broke everything. They hit all of us. They broke my teeth. I still
have headaches after that I was, my hand got paralysed and I had to be in
hospital for a bit”. |
06:44 |
Sunset/Village GVs |
Music |
06:57 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Taking away large amounts of sand can have
catastrophic consequences, destroying farmland, causing floods, landslides
and contaminating ground water. We’ve come to Bundelkhand, a drought stricken
region in central India. Life’s a struggle here at the best of times, let
alone when your land is being destroyed by greedy sand miners. |
07:15 |
Brijmohan walks |
Local famer, Brijmohan Yadav, has been fighting them for years. |
07:43 |
Hawley walks with Brijmohan and looks at mining site |
His first encounter with the sand mafia was when they came onto his
land in the dead of night to reach the riverbed. |
07:51 |
|
“And the trucks just come straight through here?” BRIJMOHAN YADAV: “The public road was here before it was washed away
in the monsoon. So the sand miners then dug through my land to create another
road”. |
08:01 |
Hawley and Brijmohan at river |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “So how has this river changed over time with all
this sand digging, this mining?” BRIJMOHAN YADAV: “This river didn’t flow through our fields like it
does now. |
08:17 |
|
When they mined that part of the river, it completely changed its
course. It used to flow straight, now it goes through our fields. |
08:28 |
|
As soon as the rains come it will most likely overflow onto my land
and wash it away. |
08:41 |
Brijmohan’s crop fields |
Music |
08:49 |
|
BRIJMOHAN YADAV: This was also
happening to many other farmers |
08:54 |
Brijmohan’s interview |
but no-one said anything because the mafia is so influential. They
have police and local authorities on their side”. |
08:58 |
Brijmohan at river |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: And so began a fight first for his land and then for
his life. He was contacted by people from a nearby village who he thought
wanted to help him. Instead they ambushed him. BRIJMOHAN YADAV: “These people kidnapped me and took me to an isolated
place. |
09:04 |
Brijmohan interview |
They beat me up and threatened to kill me if I did not stop all this. |
09:25 |
Brijmohan at home. Walks up stairs and lays on bed |
They tortured me for three days. Then they let me go and said that if
I continue, they’ll catch me and I won’t survive”. SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Brijmohan is in hiding from those who want to kill
him. He has a High Court order protecting him, but for the safety of his
family, he can’t go home. It’s a long, lonely battle. |
09:32 |
Driving along road at night |
Music |
09-56 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: We want to film illegal sand mining but it won’t be
easy. There’s a near blanket ban on unlicensed mining across India imposed by
the Supreme Court. But in remote, rural areas like this, it continues with
impunity and is often the best paid job going. We move under cover of night
because as a foreign TV crew, we really stand out. |
10:02 |
Oncoming car lights
appear |
We’re taken to an area where the locals say there has been sand mining
recently. Suddenly we see lights up ahead. “Oh I think it’s right there. Is someone
coming? There’s a car coming yeah? Go back, go back, go back.” |
10:35 |
Truck passes |
|
10:52 |
Hawley to camera |
“So that was just a truck load of sand that’s just gone past us which
is almost the proof that we need that there is illegal sand mining going on
here. Whether or not now we push forward and go further deeper in here, which
could be quite dangerous, we’ll have to now have a talk about and decide
whether it’s safe to actually push on into here. We can see the lights -
that’s where the mining’s going on”. |
11:07 |
Hawley and Raja |
RAJA: “These vehicles are taking sand out of the river. They steal the
sand like this through the night. They trucks can’t get in here so all night
they tractors run like this, taking sand out of the river”. |
11:29 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “They’d know by now that we’re here, right?” SABI: “They’ll know”. RAJA: “We’re inside their citadel here, an area that’s been fortified
with lookouts. |
11:43 |
|
But we’ve managed to get past them”. SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “Is it safe for us to go further on in here?” It isn’t. The car won’t make it so we go in on foot. |
11:51 |
Hawley and team walk
in darkness |
Music |
12:00 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “Is there
someone there? There’s someone there. Just come back to the car, closer to
the car. We’ve seen someone there. We’re just a bit reluctant… it’s a really
kind of hairy situation and we’re not sure it’s really safe for us to go any
further and so I think it’s safer for us to go back to the car and see if
they approach us”. |
12:07 |
Walking back to car |
“Here is another one coming
yeah? Is this a tractor coming?” |
12:27 |
Tractor and trailer go past |
Now aware of our presence, the workers begin to scatter. “It’s empty”. |
12:44 |
Team drive away.
Hawley in car |
Music |
12:57 |
|
It’s time for us to get out too. “So the motorbike is following us now, is it?” SABI: “Yes, there’s a motorcycle following us and there was a point
where they were sitting… and they’re waiting for us”. SABI: “Yes. I think they’re probably trying to make sure that we are
really leaving”. |
13:05 |
Motorbike departs |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: When they’re sure we’re on our way, we lose our
escort. SABI: “There’s no number on the bike”. SAMANTHA HAWLEY: We can film no more tonight. |
13:26 |
Team drives back to
mining site |
The next morning we’re back. The sand thieves can be brazen enough to
work even at this time. And sure enough… we catch one red handed. |
13:45 |
Team with tractor
driver |
The tractor driver calls his boss who arrives with an entourage. “Truck owner?” |
14:04 |
|
At first neither man is keen to talk. Eventually they tell us they
know what they’re doing is illegal, but they don’t have much choice. |
14:14 |
Tractor driver |
TRACTOR DRIVER: “I feel bad that I do this job, but there’s no other
work I can do. I get a little extra money. That’s why I do it. Everybody does
what they do for their stomachs”. |
14:26 |
Hawley and others with
tractor driver |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: We’re told that each night there are approximately 20
to 25 tractors like this one loaded with sand making up to three trips per
shift. By the time everyone gets a cut, there isn’t much left. |
14:42 |
Tractor owner |
TRACTOR OWNER: “I have to give money to the inspector and the officer
at the checkpoint”. |
14:58 |
Hawley and others with
tractor driver, owner and men |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: It’s clear these men aren’t the big money makers,
they’re from the lower rungs of the mafia. |
15:07 |
Line of trucks waiting
for sand |
The extent of illegal mining in this district can’t be hidden. Day
after day these trucks line up ready to take away tonnes of sand. We count
about 35 and we’re told this is routine. The central government leaves it to
local authorities to enforce. |
15:20 |
Exterior. Magistrate’s
court |
Music |
15:40 |
Hawley enters room at
court |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: We decide to pay a surprise visit to the District
Magistrate in charge of the area. [entering room] “I’m Samantha Hawley from ABC Australia. We’ve come
here to do a story about sand mining, the rampant sand mining that is taking
place across this district”. |
15:46 |
District Magistrate
interview |
DISTRICT MAGISTRATE: “There has been a directive from the High Court.
They have put a stop to mining in the whole state. So at this time there is
no more mining in this area”. |
16:06 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “Why are you saying there’s no sand mining when
there’s clearly sand mining?” |
16:29 |
|
DISTRICT MAGISTRATE: “It’s possible that there is some illegal sand
mining going on. But if we hear there’s sand mining going on, then we take
the necessary action against it and try to stop it. You could be mistaken in
thinking that there is sand mining going on here”. |
16:33 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: But what about the sand mafia, the farmer told us
about? |
16:50 |
|
DISTRICT MAGISTRATE: “There’s no need to be scared. The land order
situation is quite good. Nothing mafia. No mafia”. |
16:55 |
Street parade/Market |
|
17:11 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Many of those who’ve been drawn into the fight are
reluctant activists. |
17:30 |
Hawley greets Akaash
and he shows site of murder |
Akaash Chauhan lives with his family in the place they’ve called home
for generations. Four years ago his father was shot dead here as he took an
afternoon nap. “And the assailant came down from here yeah?” AKAASH CHAUHAN: “This is the room. So they came from this side and
shot my father and ran away, this way”. SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “So he was lying in this room, asleep yeah? Or he was
sleeping”. AKAASH CHAUHAN: “He was sleeping in this room”. |
17:36 |
Akaash unlocks door
and he and Hawley enter home |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Three men known to the family entered their home and
shot Paleram Chauhan three times. The 52 year old |
18:07 |
Still. Police at
murder scene |
had dared to complain to the police about the local sand mafia who
were destroying communal land. |
18:17 |
Akaash interview |
AKAASH CHAUHAN: “When I reached the hospital and saw my father’s dead
body I’ve never been able to forget that sight. Even today it flashes in front of me. |
18:26 |
Akaash shows Hawley
photos |
|
18:40 |
|
He was shot in the chest, cheeks, forehead. |
18:46 |
Akaash interview |
There are certain things I can’t forget. They keep going around in my
head”. |
18:53 |
Akaash eats meal |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Akaash is prepared to name the accused mastermind, a
man who we’ll soon encounter at uncomfortably close quarters. AKAASH CHAUHAN: “He threatened my Papa – |
19:02 |
Akaash interview |
that he either back down in a week, or he and his family would be
killed. And a week after that, Papa died”. |
19:19 |
Akaash and mother hold
photos of father and brother |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: A year later Akaash’s brother, a witness to his
father’s murder, was found dead near some train tracks. |
19:26 |
Akaash on laptop looking at Google map of sand mining |
Police have refused to investigate. Akaash is adamant he was murdered
too. A simple Google map search reveals the extent of the destruction. The
white patches mark where the land has been stripped of sand. |
19:35 |
Akaash and Hawley into
tuk tuk |
Akaash agrees to take us there. |
19:51 |
|
“Why are you doing it if it’s so dangerous for you?” AKAASH CHAUHAN: “I’m doing this for my father”. |
20:00 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “If we start filming there, will they try and stop
us?” AKAASH CHAUHAN: “Definitely, definitely”. |
20:07 |
Akaash and Hawley walk
through field |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Akaash takes us as far as the fields his family own,
but it’s not safe for him to come any further. |
20:14 |
Men mining sand |
We go on and find the sand mining. We film openly. We have an audience
but they seem harmless. But before long, |
20:21 |
Sonu and Hawley |
a more threatening figure appears. SONU: “This is not allowed here”. SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “What isn’t allowed?” SONU: “It is illegal”. SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “Oh this? Oh is it? SONU: “Yeah, yeah”. SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “Why is it illegal?” SONU: “It is not allowed”. SAMANTHA HAWLEY: We have come face to face with the alleged murderer
of Akaash’s father. This is Sonu, the man we’re told runs this illegal
operation. |
20:34 |
Sand miners |
He comes from the same village as Akaash and he makes it very clear
we’re not welcome. SONU: “He will not attack you. |
20:58 |
Sonu and Hawley |
I am standing here, so he will not attack you”. SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “Attack you?” As foreign journalists we’re unlikely to face any violence from Sonu,
a protection not enjoyed by his fellow villagers. |
21:10 |
Akaash interview |
AKAASH CHAUHAN: “My father’s fight has become my fight. I am pursuing
this case. The illegal sand mining is still going on. My father was against
it, I am against it and so is my family”. |
21:24 |
Sand mine site |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: The problem is that no one knows exactly how much
illegal sand mining is taking place and how much money is being generated.
Conservative estimates put it at more than $250 million a year, others go
much higher and if anyone does get caught, the fines are negligible. |
21:45 |
Hawley driving with
Sumaira |
Sumaira Abdulali, the woman we met earlier on Kihim Beach, spends her
time trying to gather as much data as possible. It’s a dangerous job. After
photographing illegal dredging, she was almost run off the road by someone
she thinks was trying to kill her. |
22:08 |
Driving over bridge |
SUMAIRA ABDULALI: “You can see that this, this boundary isn’t very
secure”. SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “No I can see a part of it was missing there, yeah”. SUMAIRA ABDULALI: “And we were both driving, he suddenly accelerated
and he tried to hit me from the side, just about here in the middle of the
bridge”. SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “Yeah there’s a really long drop there”. SUMAIRA ABDULALI: “Yes a really long drop. So I just very sharply
braked and he hit me on the side and the front rather than straight on the
side |
22:30 |
Stills. Damage to
Sumaira’s car |
which would have toppled us over. I mean in the heat of the moment you
don’t feel terrified but now I feel terrified |
22:54 |
Sumaira and Hawley
driving |
when I think about it”. SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “Yeah”. |
23:00
|
Sand mining |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Nearly seven
years later, Sumaira is still fighting to have the people who attacked her
that day brought to justice. |
23:03 |
|
Illegal sand mining is the dirty secret at the heart of India’s
booming economy, but there’s little political appetite to deal with it. |
23:12 |
Policeman inspects
truck |
There’s strong evidence that police and other officials are often paid
off but Sumaira believes that if the government wanted to do something to
control the sand gangs, it could. SUMAIRA ABDULALI: “The answer would be so simple. All it requires is
to gather data as to how much sand is required for construction |
23:24 |
Sumaira interview |
and to figure out where it’s coming from and to make sure that there
are declarations of this raw material in every building project”. |
23:46 |
Children running
through sand |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: It would also help if the Indian government enforced
its own laws and protected the ordinary people trying to uphold them. But the
future looks bleak and the sand is running out. |
23:54 |
Credits over: |
Reporter - Samantha Hawley Executive producer: Marianne Leitch abc.net.au/foreign © 2017 |
24:13 |
|
|
24:34 |