A tribal woman asked Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday why the State government should allow quarries close to forests when the tribals, the original inhabitants, faced so many restrictions.

At the 6th meeting of the State Board for Wildlife (SBWL) here, Savithri, a Kani tribal, posed the question to the Chief Minister. In reply, he told her that the officers study every aspect before placing any proposal at the board’s meeting, sources said.

She raised the question as there were several proposals of quarrying in the agenda of the SWBL. A little later, the board recommended about a dozen quarry proposals, according to sources. All the proposals were outside the eco sensitive zones (ECZ) of wildlife sanctuaries like Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary, Kanniyakumari Wildlife Sanctuary, and one proposal was for a quarry outside Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, sources added. The Standing Committee of the National Wildlife Board would have to give the approval for the projects.

In the previous meeting of the SWBL early this year, which the Chief Minister attended for the first time, over 40 quarries, both stone and granite, were recommended but the Standing Committee of the NBWL rejected many proposals as they fell within the eco-sensitive zones of the wildlife sanctuaries and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve.

According to sources, the forest officials told the meeting that earlier this year they were waiting for the Central approval for ECZs and that the ECZs have now been notified now and the proposed quarries are all outside the eco-sensitive zones, verified after field inspections. “At Wednesday’s meeting, the Chief Secretary was not present. One of the Chief Minister’s secretary explained in detail how these quarries were outside the eco sensitive zones,” a member said, requesting anonymity. The first four SWBL meetings did not touch the quarry proposals and kept on postponing them. It was only in the last two meetings, the focus was more on recommending quarry projects, sources claimed.

Vadamalli, another tribal woman, asked the Chief Minister and his government to take measures to save the open grasslands and restore the rights to the tribes of The Nilgiris, given by the British during colonial rule. Forest officials told them that the tribal rights would be safeguarded as per the rules, sources said.

Members also asked for restoration of bird habitats affected during the cyclone Gaja, declaration of elephant corridors to avoid man-animal conflict, a new landscape for captive elephants among others.

The State government did not issue any official statement about the meeting. It sent only a photograph. Senior forest officials could not be reached.