HC stays sand quarrying in village

Madras High Court today restrained authorities from allowing sand quarrying in a village in Tiruvallur District on a PIL which raised apprehensions that agricultural operations there would be severely affected by such work.
A bench comprising Justice S Manikumar and Justice T S Sivagnanam granted the interim injunction on quarrying in Keelmudalambedu on the PIL by G Suriyaprakash, a resident of the village, and adjourned the matter to June 3 for further hearing.
In his petition, Suriyaprakash submitted that a large number of men and heavy earthmover had been positioned near their village lake awaiting orders to start quarrying operations after declaration of Lok Sabha election results on May 16.

Citing the mining guidelines laid down by the public works department in 1988, he said the very first condition was that quarrying in lakes and ponds would be permitted only if the earth level is above the sluice level, so that such operations would not adversely affect water flow in the water body.
However, at Keelmudalambedu the lakh/tank is at sluice level at present and if quarrying is allowed, the earth level would go below it. If that happens, then there would not be any water supply to a vast stretch of farm lands in the area till the earth and sluice level becomes even, he submitted.

Apprehending issuance of quarry licence any time now, the PIL said the villagers' representation against the proposal had not evoked any response from the authorities so far.
He wanted the court to restrain the authorities from issuing any quarrying permit for sand or any other minor mineral in and around the village, measuring about 350 acres, "in the general interest of agriculture" in the region.