Members of the Hassan district unit of the Jelly Crusher Owners’ Association have decided to stop work in their stone-crushing units from October 3, according to district president of the association S.K. Ramachandra.
Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Mr. Ramachandra said that the owners of stone-crushing units will stop operations in protest against the directive of the government to shift their units to “safe zones” as specified in the Karnataka Regulation of Stone Crushers Act 2011.
Shifting the units to new place is a difficult task involving huge expenditure. “To shift to a new place, we have to invest on land and machinery besides incurring shifting expenditure. To shift each unit, the expenditure will be up to Rs. 40 to Rs. 50 lakh and that is unmanageable”, he said.
Nagaraje Gowda, owner of a stone-crushing unit, argued that if their units were shifted to far off places, then the cost of gravel would go up. As against Rs. 25 per cft now, it will go up to Rs. 100 per cft if the units are shifted to a new location.
“More than 25,000 workers depend on stone-crushing units in the district to earn their livelihood. If the units are shifted, their families will also be affected”, Mr. Nagaraje Gowda said.
“ Our association has decided to stop work in all stone-crushing units across the State on October 3 to pressure the government to withdraw the new law”, he added.
