Arappor Iyakkam calls for sustained, transparent action to curb illegal mining in five southern districts

Arappor Iyakkam, a voluntary organisation fighting against corruption and plunder of natural resources, has urged the Tamil Nadu Administration to take sustained, proactive and transparent action against illegal mining of stones from quarries in five southern districts.

After surveying 29 stone quarries in Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Thoothukudi, Kanniyakumari and Virudhunagar districts, where villagers had raised complaints of unlawful mining that posed a serious threat to their safety and health, the NGO released its findings and recommendations to the administration here on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters at the event, Jayaram Venkatesan of Arappor Iyakkam, V. Suresh, national general secretary of People’s Union for Civil Liberties, and N. Udhayarajan director of Uvakai Research Foundation, said that Arappor Iyakkam organised a public hearing in Tirunelveli on November 2 last year after receiving a series of complaints from villagers living in hamlets close to stone quarries. An independent team visited the quarries – 25 in Tirunelveli and Tenkasi districts, two in Thoothukudi district and one each in Kanniyakumari and Virudhunagar districts – and met the affected villagers before compiling the survey report.

“We met people from all walks of life to secure their opinion about stone quarrying happening close to their homes. Besides obtaining their statements, we gathered relevant information through the Right to Information Act, photos taken during the field visit, satellite and drone images, affidavits filed by the government in court on various occasions etc. We compared all the information to corroborate the charges being made by the villagers. It are unfortunately true,” Mr. Suresh said.

The villagers explained to the independent surveyors concerning the social, environmental and health issues they were facing due to uncontrolled and massive explosion of subsurface rocks. They also explained concerning the damage caused to roads, drinking water pipelines, irrigation tanks, wild streams carrying water to rain-fed tanks by ultra-heavy vehicles carrying the stones to other places, mostly Kerala, where the illicit miners made enormous money from rough stones, blue metal and M-Sand.

“Since the stone quarrying being done without adhering to the mining plan and beyond the permissible depth deplete the groundwater table seriously, farming operations are wiped out completely while cattle-rearers lose drinking water for their animals. The cloud of dust billowing from the stone quarries round-the-clock destroy the grazing areas,” the panellists said.

“The government, instead of deciding in favour of majority voices being raised at public hearings, should approach the issue open-mindedly by giving due importance to those who oppose mining operations near their hamlets,” they suggested.

The independent survey team had Nandakumar Siva, biologist Thanigaivel, architect Udhyarajan and social activist Nandhini.

The team identified that the massive explosions triggered in the quarries for blasting subsurface rocks impacted houses located 300 metres away from the quarries and triggered cracks in concrete houses situated beyond one km. The dust emanating from the blasts and during transportation of rocks had irreparably affected nearby hamlets, cultivable lands, grazing lands and water bodies.

“The stone-laden heavy trucks weighing upto 40 tonnes damage the roads. Buffer zones should be created between the quarries and the nearby villages for growing trees to minimise the pollution at least to some extent,” they said.

The objective behind the independent survey was to find an everlasting solution to the suffering caused to residents and damage to natural resources due to illegal quarrying. “Hence, we have shared 140 pages of survey findings with the Tamil Nadu Government and other senior bureaucrats for appropriate action, which should ensure accountability, transparency and sustained action for curbing illegal mining,” they said.