Copyright thehindu
Residents of Katchaikatti in Vadipatti taluk condemned the permission given for a quarry operation at their village despite them flagging the glare irregularities in the quarry site. As the villagers heard that the permission to operate the quarry was granted by the district administration, they had filed a petition with the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) citing the issues in relation to the electricity board. The TNEB in their reply had stated that they had given the permission only after perusing the approval documents submitted by the revenue officials. Gnanasekaran, an activist based in Vadipatti said though section 83 (2) of the Electricity Act 1956 clearly stated that the high-tension electricity line and its electricity cables, 650 kV power lines must be kept at a distance of 300 m/1,000 feet from the outer edge of quarry site, a low voltage line runs just within 300m. He added that despite them pointing out the legal issues in approving the quarry due to such irregularities observed, the electricity board had justified their approval on the basis of other permissions. Further, the Minor Minerals Rules 1959 stated that there should be a gap of 500 m in case of overhead water tank, government borewell, among others, in the southwest direction from the location of the stone quarry, there were registered houses at Katchaikatti, he noted. Mr. Gnanasekaran pointing to the presence of a stream originating from the hills said that despite the law stating that there should be no stream and waterbodies within 50 m, there was a stream just nearby the quarry which was also mentioned in the Environment Impact Assessment map. He added that unlike other stone quarries operating in the locality, the quarry under question has water streams on all four sides of the quarry. “The quarry operators erasing the evidence havde gone to the extent of blocking the streams with rocks,” he alleged. Surprisingly, the approval order came just a month after the district administration fined two stone quarries in the same area to the tune of several crores for identifying irregularities in their operation, he noted. “They were held for flouting several rules, including extracting enormous rocks than the limited amount,” he added. In this situation, for a stone quarry which had received similar opposition in large numbers from the public during the public hearing, the authorities not taking anything into consideration has permitted it to go against all the rules, Mr. Gnanasekaran said. Vadipatti Tahsildar while answering on what basis the approval was granted said only after perusing and cross checking the documents the permission was given. “All the prerequisites for the quarry permission were submitted by the quarry operators and only based on them, the approval was given,” the official added.
