Belgaum: The Belgaum unit of Lawyers' Initiative for Forest & Environment (LIFE) has demanded immediate action against those indulging in illegal quarrying in areas near surrounded by reserve forest and private forest land in Khanapur taluk. Incidentally, the mining quarries fall under the Western Ghats, one of the 18 biodiversity hotspots in the world.

In a complaint to the Deputy CommissionerLIFE member Lt. Col. (Retd.) Ravendra Kumar Saini and A.S. Salanki, member of Samaja Parivarana Samudaya, Dharwad, alleged that illegal quarrying has been going on in blatant violation of a 2004 Government Order, in adjacent survey numbers 34 and 29 (25 acres of land) of Lalwadi and Navage villages respectively in Khanapur taluk. The Department of Mines & Geology, Belgaum, granted unlawful permission to quarrying in these areas on April 28, 2006, they alleged.

A copy of the complaint was made available to The Hindu here on Wednesday.

The area where quarrying was going on was surrounded by reserve and private forest land, and forest land had already been destroyed by quarrying activities. Quarrying activity using strong explosives was in full swing during the day and the night, the compliant said.

As a result of this, huge stones and rocks are being strewn across fields in four villages situated within a radius of one km from the quarrying sites.

This has adversely affected agricultural operations in the villages. Houses in Lalwadi, Navage, Jhadnavage and Koundal had developed cracks, it said.

They said that the people of Lalwadi and Koundal had written to the Tahsildar and Assistant Conservator of Forest, Khanapur and Deputy Commissioner of Belgaum in April last. But, the tahsildar had maintained that quarrying activity had been stopped.

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