At a time when the district administration and farmers are seeking a ban on the usage of explosives at stone quarries around Baby Hills near Pandavapura, considering the safety of Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS), quarry operators said they are not violating any norms.
A group of quarry owners on Wednesday told presspersons that no norms have been [and are being] violated during blasting activities at quarries. B.M. Nataraju, an operator who has been involved in stone quarrying operations for the past several years, said the operators have been strictly following rules pertaining to the license conditions. “There is no threat to the safety of KRS by regular blasts at quarries,” Mr. Nataraju, also a member of Pandavapura Stone Crushers Owners’ Association, said. According to him, a total of 24 quarry operators have availed licenses and are abiding the conditions of the Department of Mines and Geology while quarrying stones at an area of 1,400 acres, by paying royalty and other fee.
The association members also expressed concern over the safety of KRS and added: “The government should initiate stringent measures against operators who use dangerous and banned explosives at quarries. And, the government should conduct a technical inspection/survey to ascertain the impact of blasting on the KRS.”
The area [Baby Hills and its surroundings] is known for good quality rocks which is why the operators conduct quarrying/blasting round-the-clock all over the place. Two heavy cases of explosive-blasting were conducted on September 25, 2018, and they were recorded at the VSAT Enabled Permanent Seismic Monitoring Stations (PSMS), of the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), established at the KRS.
Subsequently, the district administration had banned the use of explosives recently, prompting the association leaders to address the media, a quarry operator said.
Nevertheless, the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha has demanded a blanket ban on stone mining in Pandavapura citing the the safety of KRS as a reason.
