TIRUNELVELI: A five-member panel formed by the Arappor Iyakkam last year to study the social, environmental and livelihood impacts of stone-quarrying in Tirunelveli and surrounding districts put the blame for illegal mining and environmental degradation on mining, revenue and pollution control authorities.
Illegal mining continued due to the failure of these authorities to discharge their statutory duties, the panel stated.
Chairperson of the committee V Suresh submitted a 156-page report to Arappor Iyakkam convenor Jayaram Venkatesan at a press conference here on Tuesday.
Addressing the media, Suresh, who is also the national general secretary of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, said the report was the outcome of the panel’s months-long work based on a public hearing held on November 2, 2025, 216 representations from the public, subsequent field visits and information collected through RTI applications on violations at 29 quarries in Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Thoothukudi, Kanniyakumari and Virudhunagar districts.
Among other violations, the panel highlighted uncontrolled blasting using high-power explosives, dust emissions and their impact on agriculture and public health, quarry encroachment into farmland, damage to public roads, accidents within quarry sites, poor benching, unsafe abandonment of quarry pits, groundwater depletion and excess extraction of minerals.
“The situation was documented approximately nine months after the public hearing. While systemic problems accumulated over several years cannot be rectified within a short period, several of the major concerns identified during the inquiry continue without significant visible improvement. The findings of this report should therefore be treated not merely as a record of past conditions, but as a baseline against which present conditions, corrective measures and future regulatory action can be assessed,” the panel said in its report.
“The Committee recognises that mineral resources are essential for construction, infrastructure and economic development. However, extraction must remain within legally approved limits and subject to effective environmental and public-safety safeguards. Regulatory reform cannot therefore be limited to the settlement or regularisation of past violations. It must ensure prevention, continuous monitoring, enforcement, remediation, transparency and accountability,” the report added.
The report highlighted the Erukkandurai-Kudankulam region, where residents have petitioned the Tirunelveli district administration against further quarry permissions. It said the proximity of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project added significance to concerns over quarrying and unauthorised blasting in the region.
“Penalties imposed after earlier inspections by government authorities remain uncollected, while eight new quarry proposals are being pursued in areas where complaints and violations remain unresolved,” the panel said in the report.
Jayaraman said the report, along with the panel’s recommendations, had been submitted to government authorities, including Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay and Natural Resources Minister T K Prabhu, seeking immediate corrective action as well as institutional reforms to ensure a transparent, accountable and scientifically regulated quarrying framework.