TIRUPPUR: Social activists alleged revenue officials do not regularly conduct inspections in quarries across the district. According to sources, there are 100 stone quarries in the district and based on the government order (MS)no.19 of the Industries (MMC2) Department, any revenue officials ranging from Village Administrative Officer (VAO) to Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) should inspect the stone quarries in their limit every month.
However, an RTI reply dated May 17, 2023, stated in October 2022, only 23 quarries were inspected, whereas, in November 2022, the number is just 10. In December it further reduced to eight. Tamil Nadu Farmers Protection Association (Legal wing) Secretary and RTI activist Sathish Kumar said the many Tahsildars in Tiruppur refused to accept such a government order on the issue. This attitude of officials gives a free hand to licensees of the stone quarry to exploit resources and violate laws, he added.
For example, none of the stone quarries in the district have fences around them. These are visible violations. Besides, lack of inspection allows the operator of quarries to use explosives to break stones around the clock, causing discomfort to residents near quarries. Also, when a quarry license is offered, the license stipulates quarrying just 33% of stones as the stone quarry is a non-renewable resource. But lack of inspection from authorities leads to the exploitation of the resources.
Almost all stones must be quarried through a benching quarry method, but in reality, they follow straightforward methods where all the stones are completely removed. This is a complete exploitation of the resource,” he added.
A top official from Revenue Department told TNIE that they are burdened with various works like issuing certificates, site inspection for floods and rains and calculation of agricultural areas for each crop. “Due to this work pressure, they were not able to inspect quarries regularly. Besides quarry inspection is a time-consuming process. Adding to this, political interventions are also pushing the officials to avoid stone quarry inspections,” he added.