Supreme Court order in quarry case brings cheer to greens

But, illegal stone quarrying continuing unabated in State, they say

Despite the recent Supreme Court order staying the injunction order of the Kerala High Court against the National Green Tribunal (NGT) norms on distance between quarries and the nearest residential area, illegal stone quarrying continues unabated in the State, say environmentalists. “As soon as the order was issued on August 25, we had informed the Kerala State Pollution Control Board about the same. But, the Board seems to have been inactive as it could not put a stop to blasting in quarries violating norms,” says T.V. Rajan, secretary of the All Kerala River Protection Committee, which is one of the parties in the case supporting the NGT order. The issue began with a group of local people in Muthalamada, Palakkad, organising a signature campaign against a quarry in their locality and forwarding it with a petition to the Prime Minister, with supporting documents, requesting putting an end to the threat posed by the quarry to their homes. A copy of the same was forwarded to the NGT, based on which the Tribunal suo motu registered a case. In March this year, the NGT passed an order stating that there should be at least 200 metres distance between a quarry and the nearest house. The Tribunal took into account reports from Pollution Control Boards in various States on the issue and found that most States maintained a distance of 200 to 300 metres between the quarries and the nearest residences, while in Kerala the distance was only 50 metres.