A landslide near a granite quarry-cum-crusher unit located on the border of the Ponthanpuzha-Aalapra reserve forests at Chunkappara in Mallappally taluk on Sunday evening has inflicted large-scale damage to the land and vegetation in the surrounding areas.
The landslide reportedly occurred at 6.30 p.m. A portion of the Chunkappara-Ponthanpuzha Road as well as the protection walls were washed away in the gushing waters. Local people said the water gushing out of the site where the landslide occurred had destroyed the protection walls around the pond formed inside the quarry and the debris lay on the road, blocking traffic for about 16 hours.
They prevented the quarry workers from removing the debris from the road on Sunday night, alleging that unscientific rock quarrying in violation of the law had resulted in the landslide. However, the road was temporarily repaired after clearing the debris following a site inspection by a team of Revenue officials on Monday morning. Traffic on the road was restored by 9.30 am.
The local people, under the banner of People's Action Council, have been waging a battle against the granite quarry and crusher unit, demanding official action to check environmental pollution and degradation due to alleged unscientific quarrying of rock.
Action Council leaders George Sebastian and D. Santhosh alleged that the rocky terrain where quarrying has been going on for the past four years is part of Karavallikkad hills or Avolimala, which was identified as one of the 3,500 Great Trigonometrical (GT) stations in the country by the Survey of India. The GT station was reportedly identified by British surveyor William Lambton as part of the Great Trigonometrical Survey 208 years ago for mapping purposes.
An expert committee constituted by the Kerala High Court too had identified the north-east slope of Avolimala area as landslide-prone. The committee chaired by V.S.Vijayan, the then chairman of Kerala State Biodiversity Board, further stated that “the study clearly shows that
the quarry and crusher cause and continue to cause damage to the birds and wildlife in the forests lying close to the site, affect the plants
and health of people living around, hamper the natural springs and irrevocably damage the ecology of the area, especially the micro-water
system.''
The action council leaders alleged that the quarry owners have been flouting all pollution control norms and mining rules, posing serious
environmental threat to this ecologically sensitive hilly terrain located on the forest fringes.
The blasting of rocks and the dust emanating from the crusher unit have been posing a threat to life and property of the local residents,
they alleged. A 12-year-old boy who was reportedly standing in his courtyard about 300 metres away from the blasting site was fatally hit by a granite piece on April 12, 2007.
Prof. Sebastian has called upon the government and the district authorities to take effective steps to close down the quarry and crusher unit in the larger interests of protecting the life and property of the local residents.
