Government through the ministry of natural resources, energy and mining has expressed concern over sand mining from riverbeds across the country.
The concern has been raised by the ministry’s spokesperson Sangwani Phiri during an interview with local media.
He mentioned Lilongwe and Salima district as places where sand mining is rife despite the ministry’s warnings on the same.
He said it is worrisome that many people in the country are involved in sand mining despite the environmental effects the practice causes.
Phiri asked people to be responsible enough in taking care of environment as one way of avoiding unnecessary occurrence of floods.
According to Phiri, the ministry is working hard to deal with the problem and will not stop until the challenge is dealt with.
He therefore asked Malawians to be patriotic and say no to sand mining as one way of curbing the situation at hand.
Phiri also called on traditional leaders among others to assist the ministry in ending the malpractice by conducting awareness campaigns as well as environmental events aimed at dealing with the problem.
