Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Collector visits mining sites

Special Correspondent

Promises action against firms violating laws

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The district administration on Thursday promised to initiate action against unauthorised clay mining and large-scale extraction of soil from various places in Mangalapuram panchayat to the north of the capital. Acting on a petition submitted by the local people, Revenue officials led by Collector N. Ayyappan visited the affected areas to assess the environmental hazards created by mining activities.

Panchayat members and residents poured out their woes before the Collector. They said the indiscriminate clay mining was responsible for the acute water scarcity in the region. They also observed that the round-the-clock mining was exposing them to health hazards. The team visited the Mel Thonnakkal, Veiloor, Keezh Thonnakal and Azhoor villages where concentrated mining activities had left whole tracts of land heavily pockmarked with deep ravines.

Mr. Ayyappan assured the people that he would examine the licence issued by the Mining and Geology department.

At Veiloor, local people complained that the heavy dust pollution caused by incessant mining had led to severe respiratory problems for the residents. The Collector sought a medical report to assess the magnitude of the problem.

Mr. Ayyappan said he would initiate action against the mining companies if they were found guilty of violating laws. "The district administration will issue a show cause to the companies asking them to explain why action should not be taken against them. We can also invoke the Criminal Procedure Code against the firms for causing public nuisance", he said.

Mangalapuram gram panchayat president Ajithkumar said the twin threats posed by clay mining in the eastern side and sand mining from the Kadhinamkulam lake on the west side were posing a danger to large portions of the panchayat.

In November 2005, an inquiry committee set up by the State Human Rights Commission had called for urgent steps to check the environmental degradation caused by uncontrolled clay mining in the Mangalapuram panchayat.

The three-member committee headed by V.Sobha, Head of the Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Kerala, observed that violations of mining rules have played havoc with the water quality in the neighbouring areas and left the land pockmarked with deep trenches, posing a danger to local residents.

The report stressed the need for peripheral fencing to demarcate the mines and reclaim abandoned mines. "While the rules stipulate restoration, reclamation and rehabilitation of land affected by mines, there has been no such effort at Mangalapuram," it noted.

The panel recommended an Environmental Impact Assessment before granting fresh mining leases in the Mangalapuram area.

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