TENKASI: Nine out of the 32 stone quarries in the district have not yet received permits from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), claimed former MLA K Raviarunan and demanded a thorough inspection by the district administration at all quarries.
"In a letter written to me on April 19, the TNPCB said it had granted permission to 23 stone quarries in Tenkasi district. However, District Collector P Akash told the media on Friday that 32 stone quarries were functioning here," the former MLA added.
Recalling the Collector's earlier statement that 16 of the 32 stone quarries were allowed to function considering the shortage of construction materials, Raviarunan urged the officer to clarify what kind of violation was observed in the remaining 16 quarries and how much amount was imposed as penalty on the erring units.
Collector Akash had said, "Some trucks that should carry only a maximum of 25 tonnes of minerals are transporting nearly 40 tonnes in violation of rules. The police and Regional Transport Officer are imposing a base fine of Rs 20,000 on such trucks, and Rs 2,000 for each extra tonne of the load. We recently inspected a stone quarry, against which the residents of Andipatti are staging protests, and found out that the quarry had permission to dig up to a depth of 58 metres."
In response, Raviarunan asked, "How could the State government permit this when even the farm wells in Andipatti are only 40 feet deep? This has caused groundwater depletion in Andipatti." He also urged the government to set up a weighing machine at Puliyarai to inspect overloaded trucks.