Every time when rocks are blasted at granite quarries near Thottumukkam, people in the neighbourhood shudder with fear. For, they see the cracks it causes in the walls of their houses. The subterranean shock after each blast is a serious threat to the villagers, most of whom belong to low-income groups.
They say the increased detonation pressure is the main reason for deep cracks in most of the walls.
Houses that are close to the quarries in Cheluppara and Fathima estate near Thottumukkam in Kodiyathur panchayat are the worst hit, where house owners are not even getting a reasonable compensation for damage. Only the pleas of those who exert immense pressure on quarry operators through people’s representatives are occasionally addressed and that too with minimal compensation amount.
“You won’t believe, even kitchen vessels topple off from shelves during explosions. They operate the quarry without sticking to any official working hours and blasts take place intermittently from dawn to dusk,” says P. Johnson, a farmer who stays close to a quarry site at Thottumukkam. He adds that large pieces of fly rocks terrorise his family members, including his 76-year-old mother and small children, and often damage the tile-thatched roof.
M.G. Bhaskaran, an elderly mason from the region, says many of the deep cracks are not even in a repairable form and small compensation amounts will never make up for the actual loss. “Many of the small cracks are now developing with the continuing blasts and there is no way out unless we fight to close down the damaging units or reducing the frequency of explosions,” he adds.
Mohammed Faizal, a lorry driver from the area, says the quarry operators in the area are not concerned about the residents’ plight. “I never got any compensation amount in the past 10 years. As most of the families here are financially backward, they are finding it difficult to fight the issue in court,” he says.
‘No complaints’
Abulla Chalthodika, president of Kodiyathur grama panchayat, says the local body is yet to come across any such complaints from the area. “Not even a ward member has raised the issue in the panchayat meeting. We can intervene only after getting written complaints,” he says.
Environmental activists of the Peruvampoyil Prakruthi Samrakshana Samity from the region say the panchayat authorities are ‘well aware’ of the grievances they previously submitted in the form of various memorandums. It was the panchayat board that actually gave permission to all the quarries, sidelining grievances of the public, they allege.
