Bar on new stone-crushing units continues

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court extended the stay restraining the State from permitting any new stone-crushing unit. The First Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy likened the stone-crushing industry in the State to the real-estate business when it comes to flouting rules. 

As the real-estate business is intricately connected to stone-crushing units, the usual lawlessness that prevails in the former prevails in stone-crushing industry as well, the court said. Licences are obtained over limited territories but operations are expanded far beyond the territorial limits in double-quick time, with the officials duty-bound to protect and preserve resources of the State turning a Nelson’s eye to such activities, it observed.

The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) had earlier recommended that the minimum distance between one stone-crushing unit and another ought to be one km. But in the resolutions adopted by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) on July 31, 2019, such distance norm was dispensed with. 

TNPCB to seek expert opinion on next steps
Advocate General (AG) R Shunmugasundaram, appearing for TNPCB, submitted that the board would seek expert opinion and the future course of action pertaining to stone-crushing units to be adopted by TNPCB would be strictly in accordance with such expert opinions received