The High Court (HC) order stopping all quarrying and mining activities without environmental clearance at Muthalamada I and II villages has dealt a blow to the Department of Geology and Palakkad district administration, which have so far ignored the functioning of illegal quarries in the district.
As per the admission of authorities, 22 among the more than 100 illegal quarries in the district are located at Muthalamada, which comes in the buffer zone of the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve. The rest of the illegal quarries are located at Dhoni, Kadambur, Karimba, Padavayal, Sholayur, Kottathara, Agali, Palakkayam, Malampuzha, Kadambur, Chunangad, Palakkayam, Vithinassery, Pirayiri, Kallekkad, Kodunthirappulli, and Thachangad areas.
At Athanad under the Nelliyampathy division, an illegal quarry is functioning in the forest land leased out exclusively for rubber cultivation. Though the High Court had ordered stopping of quarrying works in January last, no action had been taken so far.
‘‘It is indeed a major victory for the people who suffer hard from quarrying activities. The order will definitely help boost anti-quarrying agitations across the district. Palakkad is suffering badly from thriving illegal quarries which encroach upon both forest and agricultural lands,’’ P.S. Panicker, environmental activist, said.
Activists are also welcoming the court directive to the Centre for Earth Sciences Studies to file a preliminary report as to whether the quarrying permits issued in the Muthalamada I and II villages by geologists without environmental clearance were proper or not. ‘‘The verdict is empowering us to initiate legal action not only against quarry owners but also against officials and political leaders who collude with the mafias to plunder natural resources,’’ Arumugan Pathichira, environmental activist at Muthalamada, said.
Apart from causing severe air pollution and destabilising houses, the quarries have caused alarming depletion of drinking water. ‘‘Almost all the wells in our district have turned dry after the quarries started functioning. Water was available earlier at a depth of 125 ft. Now, we depend on bore wells that go 600 to 700 ft deep,’’ Mr. Arumugan said.
