The Manimalayar Protection Council (MPC) has called upon the government to take effective steps to stop the alleged violation of the Forest Conservation Act and the mining rules at the environmentally sensitive Avolimala in the Kottangal grama panchayat in Mallapally taluk without further delay.
Council general secretary V.N. Gopinatha Pillai has alleged that quarry operators had managed to obtain permission for granite quarrying at Avolimala with the help of false documents and after misleading even the judiciary.
VACB report
Mr. Pillai told The Hindu that the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) too had recommended a comprehensive audit on the functioning of the quarry. The VACB report had categorically stated that the grama panchayat had granted licence for quarrying at Avolimala without complying with the direction of the Kerala High Court to conduct a comprehensive audit of granite quarrying there, he said.
The High Court direction to conduct an environmental audit at Avolimala in 2016 was on the basis of a writ petition filed by Mr. Pillai.
He accused the Forest Department of criminal negligence towards the granite quarrying taking place even in the close vicinity of reserve forests, disregarding objections of the Forest Department.
Mr. Pillai alleged that granite quarrying had been taking place at Avolimala in gross violation of various laws for the past 15 years. Concealing of key facts by the officials and the grama panchayat authorities was what helped the quarry operators to obtain court orders in their favour, Mr. Pillai alleged.
Mr. Pillai said the Forest Department had objected to the quarrying stating that the site stood hardly 250 metre away from the reserve forests.
However, an RTI reply received from the panchayat showed that the local body authorities had concealed this letter from the High Court when the quarry operator stated at the court that the site was 700 metres away from the forest border, he alleged.
