A meeting of the district development committee has urged the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) to grant permission to open granite quarries in the district to address the shortage of construction materials like pebbles.
Granite mining in the district came to a halt after the DDMA directed granite quarries on July 14 to stop functioning in the wake of rain-related calamities. However, Wayanad sub-collector N.S.K. Umesh said the district administration was adopting steps to open the quarries.
Forest dept proposal
The Forest Department officials said they had submitted proposals to the State government to mitigate increasing man-animal conflict in the district and the South Wayanad forest division alone had submitted a proposal of ₹189.04 crore as part of it. The North Wayanad forest division would submit its proposal soon for the purpose.
C.K. Saseendran, MLA, asked the Forest Department officials to disburse compensation to farmers for their crop loss in wildlife attacks. He also directed forest personnel to reach the spot at once where the animal attacks or crop raids were reported.
The department had disbursed ₹50 lakh this year and the remaining amount of ₹30 lakh would be disbursed soon, officials said.
Land acquisition
A joint verification of Irrigation and Revenue Department officials for acquiring land for the Karapuzha irrigation project would be completed before August 4, executive engineer, Karapuzha irrigation project, said.
All grama panchayats in the district should find at least 50 cents of land for setting up a graveyard for tribal communities, Mr. Saseendran said.
I.C. Balakrishnan, MLA, district panchayat president K.B. Naseema, and senior officials attended the meeting.
