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Work at quarries in Ernakulam stops

KOCHI: Owners of stone quarries in Ernakulam district stopped excavation indefinitely on Thursday.

They are protesting against an order by the District Collector to shut down quarries in Kunnathunad taluk following last Saturday’s accident at Kuzhoor, near Irapuram. An emergency meeting of the All-Kerala Stone Quarry Association’s district unit here on Wednesday evening decided to stop work.

The Collector, in a report to the State government, said unscientific quarrying had resulted in the Kuzhoor accident, which killed five workers.

The indefinite strike comes ahead of the January 7 shutdown of quarries in the State, called to press for an easier, single-window licensing procedure for them and make the government abandon a move to recover royalty dues from the owners.

Functionaries of the association told The Hindu that banning quarrying in the taluk just because an accident took place in one quarry was unfair.

He said that while quarrying was banned, crusher units were allowed to work. Stoppage of work, he said, will affect construction works in the district, particularly those of local bodies. Works taken up by the gram, block and district panchayats are at the peak now, as they need to be completed by the end of the financial year (March-end).

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