Environmental organisations in the district have urged the government to cancel the permission granted recently to operate a granite quarry on the Arattupara rock, an ecologically fragile area at Kumbaleri, near Ambalavayal, in the district.
“Close to 22 granite quarries and eight manual sand-making units had functioned in the area for the past many decades and the indiscriminate mining activities had adversely affected the ecologically sensitive area,” C.S. Dharmaraj, secretary, Our Own Nature, an environmental organisation, said.
Earlier directive
Former District Collector Kesavendrakumar, who was also the chairman of the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), had issued a directive to the officials concerned in 2016 to stop all quarrying activities at Phantom rock and Arattupara rock in Ambalavayal village and and Kolagappara rock in Krishnagiri villages, and in areas within 1-km radial distance of all boundary points of these rocks, Mr. Dharmaraj said.
Fragile areas
The order said that the landscape of these rocks and their premises were mountainous in nature with steep slopes and rises.
Owing to terrain specifics, these ecologically fragile areas bore high risk of landslides. Landslides in the region can be catastrophic as the bottom areas of this rocky region are populated.
However, recently, a person obtained an environmental clearance certificate from the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) to set up a granite quarry on the Arattupara rocks. He had purchased 4.5 acres of land from farmers adjacent to the rock, Mr. Dharmaraj said.
Norms flouted
“The right to issue environmental clearance certificate for quarrying under five hectares of land is vested on the DDMA, but the quarrying lobby has obtained the certificate for an area less than that from the SEIAA with the support of some Revenue Department officials,” K.P. Jacob, president, Rock Garden Tourism Club, Kumbaleri, said .
Hence, the government should cancel the clearance certificate and adopt action against the Revenue Department officials who had supported the mining lobby, he said.
“If the government failed to address the demands, a series of agitations will be launched with the support of people,” he said.