environmentalists in Sri Lanka are up in arms against mining of sand dunes in Puttalam, the coastal town in the country's northwest. At stake are the fragile water table, vegetation, freshwater sources and people's safety from harsh winds, they say. Their appeal for stopping sea sand mining comes amid a clamour of demands from the construction industry for lifting restrictions on sand mining in riverbeds.

The government imposed these restrictions last year and the Supreme Court banned mechanised sand mining in rivers earlier this year. These led to a 700 per cent rise in the cost of sand. Aiming to use sand deposits on the west coast as an alternative, the

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