Villagers submit petition against stone quarrying

Say it will affect livelihood of over 500 families dependent on farming

More than 100 men and women from four villages in 66 Mettupatti panchayat petitioned the Department of Mining and Geology office here on Wednesday demanding that the proposal to allow stone quarrying in a hill adjacent to the villages be immediately stopped.

The villagers complained that quarrying in the hill would cause environmental damage and affect the livelihood of more than 500 families that were predominantly dependent on farming.

“There is a place on a different side of the hill, a little far from our villages, where quarrying is happening for several years and enough damage had been done to villages near that quarry. We do not want the same happening to our villages,” said S. Davamani from 66 Mettupatti.

P. Sumithra, a woman from the village, said that there were households barely 300 metres away from the proposed quarrying site. “With all the fine dust flying around and noise pollution, how will we live?” she questioned.

C. Muthuraja, an youngster and a member of APJ Abdul Kalam Youngsters’ Welfare Club in the village, said that Madurai district had already lost heavily on natural resources due to indiscriminate granite quarrying and the district administration should be prudent in sanctioning quarrying rights in new places.

P. Jeeva from Pallapatti, one of the four villages, said that there were plenty of guava, coconut and mango trees, which provided a haven to a variety of bird species, in the vicinity of the proposed quarrying site. “The villages also have a huge cattle population that graze on the hill and nearby areas,” he added.

Making a fervent appeal to stop issuing tender for quarrying in the hill, the petitioners said that they would resort to protest otherwise.

Stating that the villagers’ demand would certainly be considered based on the ground realities, a senior official from the district administration, however, pointed out that a public interest litigation petition filed for the same issue had been dismissed by the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court last year.