The Hindu : Kerala News : MLAs question Collector's order

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 24, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

MLAs question Collector's order

By Our Staff Reporter

KOLLAM, NOV. 23. The MLAs K.B. Ganesh Kumar and Ezhukone Narayanan have criticised the District Collector, B. Sreenivas, for ordering the closure of some of the granite quarries in the district on grounds that these have been found operating without getting permits from the authorities concerned.

The MLAs while discussing the issues of the district with the Revenue Minister, K.M. Mani, here today, urged him to cancel the order of the Collector.

They contented that the rules under which the Collector issued the order were not in force in other districts.

The Minister, after hearing the Collector, told the MLAs that since the issue dealt with environment problems and use of explosives, he would take up the matter with the Chief Minister.

He said that anyone who wished to operate a granite quarry on contract should first be asked to submit the mandatory application to the authorities.

The Collector recently organised raids against illegal quarries and use of jackhammers.

All quarries functioning without licence were ordered to be closed down and jackhammers used at the quarries seized. Use of Jack hammers were banned at granite quarries by the High Court earlier.

The Collector's action has invited protests from the quarry contractors and they have launched a series of agitations.

Loss of livelihood

The MLAs said that the crackdown on mining operations had resulted in hundreds of persons losing their means of livelihood. But the Collector said that only those mines functioning without the requisite permits from the Revenue Department or the Mining and Geology Department were closed down.

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