Karnataka   

Black granite quarrying set to resume in Kollegal

KOLLEGAL (Chamarajanagar district): After a sixteen-year-long lull, the forest areas of Kollegal region on Karnataka’s border with Tamil Nadu will begin to resonate with the sound of explosives and the drone of excavators and trucks as quarrying for the valuable black granite is all set to resume.

The Government of Karnataka’s Department of Mines and Geology has issued No Objection Certificates (NOC) to 29 applicants seeking to carry out quarrying activities in revenue land adjoining the forest areas, where large deposits of the black granite exist.

About seven applicants, who have secured a clearance from even the local Revenue authorities, are busy mobilising men and equipment for its excavation. Though use of explosives to blast the rocks is yet to begin, earthwork and excavation at the sites have begun.

With the remaining licence-holders eagerly awaiting the nod of the Revenue authorities in Kollegal, it is only a matter of time before quarrying activity resumes in full scale. The black granite of Kollegal, which commanded a huge international market, had contributed significantly to the granite exports from the State.

The applicants for quarrying activities in Kollegal include not only the local people, but also businessmen from neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Bangalore, who have taken the revenue land on lease.

The Government has permitted quarrying in revenue land in Ponnachi, Changadi, Meenyam and Bayalur, which is located along the fringes of the vast forest areas of Kollegal and the adjoining M.M. Hills, Deputy Tahsildar of Kollegal Rajashekar Murthy told The Hindu.

The State Government’s decision to issue NOC for quarrying in Kollegal comes in the wake of the revoking of a ban on quarrying that came into force in 1994 when it was suspected that explosives used to blast rocks were falling into the hands of notorious forest bandit Veerappan.

The gelatin sticks used by Veerappan and his gangsters to kill 22 policemen in the Palar blasts in 1993 was suspected to have originated from the quarries of the region.

Bowing to pressure from the Special Task Force (STF), the Government had imposed a blanket ban on quarrying in the region. But, the clamour for the resumption of quarrying activities in the region had begun soon after Veerappan was gunned down in October 2004.

The quarry owners had cited the growing unemployment in the region to press for lifting of the ban. About 55 companies were carrying out quarrying operations in Kollegal region prior to the ban and providing employment to about 5,000 people.

But, Forest Department officials resent the Government’s decision to resume quarrying in the region. Though Government’s permission for quarrying is restricted to revenue land, its close proximity to forest areas and the likely threat posed to wildlife has become a matter of concern.

“Even if the movement of trucks and excavators along the existing roads are not a threat to the forests, the use of explosives to blast the rocks disturbs wildlife,” Range Forest Officer of Hanur, Kollegal, Gurusiddaiah told The Hindu.

Incidentally, the resumption of quarrying in Kollegal has coincided with the transfer of Deputy Conservator of Forests Kumar Pushkar, who had stoutly opposed the resumption of quarrying.

When the Government sought his opinion on allowing quarrying in Kollegal, Mr. Pushkar had raised objections as some of the quarrying sites were located either inside the forest area or very close to forest areas and along the elephant migration path.

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