A group of local residents and environmental activists staged a sit-in in front of the Kottur panchayat office on Monday alleging that the State government was planning to give a proposed quarry project at Chengottumala the Dangerous and Offensive Trades and Factories Licence that would allow it to start operations.

The protesters claimed that the Chief Secretary was trying to hold a separate hearing to consider the D&O licence application of the quarry owners who had sought permission through a State-level single window system.

The quarry, the protesters claimed, would cause pollution in an ecologically sensitive area.

The protesters ended the sit-in only after securing an assurance from the Additional District Magistrate on the phone that their demand to call off the proposed sitting by the Chief Secretary would be communicated to top government functionaries. They also declared that an indefinite stir would be launched near the project area if the Chief Secretary held the hearing to support private investors.

Action committee leaders pointed out that the application of the private company to secure D&O licence had been rejected earlier by the Kottur grama panchayat and the district industries centre citing environmental issues. Ever since, the company has been trying to win clearance for the project through other channels with no respect to public agitations and concerns of local residents, they claimed.

P. Murali and E. Balan Nair, coordinators of the committee, said the complaints against the quarry project were currently under the consideration of the High Court and any move to win clearance for the project through other channels would be a violation of the ongoing court proceedings. Six grama sabhas held in the Kottur panchayat had passed resolutions against the project besides opposition raised by a tribal community in the area, they pointed out.