MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court has directed the Tirunelveli district collector to give details of the number of abandoned quarries in the district and the action taken to restore them.
A bench of justices G Jayachandran and KK Ramakrishnan gave the direction recently on a Public Interest Litigation filed by SP Muthuraman of Tirunelveli seeking a direction to authorities to make use of the ‘Green Fund’ created under Section 35A of the Tamil Nadu Minor Mineral Concession Rules 1959 for reclamation, restoration and rehabilitation of abandoned mines and quarries in the district.
Muthuraman stated in his petition that many quarry operators, after completion of their lease period, leave the site as such, without taking any steps to close the pits formed due to quarrying.
Due to this, rainwater gets stagnated, and in some instances, either the public or wild animals accidentally fall into the pits, he alleged.
To curb this, the state government passed a GO on February 23, 2022, amending the 1959 rules by introducing Section IV-A, which mandated the creation of a ‘Green Fund’ in each district by taking 10% or 20% of the seigniorage fee collected from quarry lessees for the restoration of abandoned quarries, Muthuraman pointed out.
The rule also said a committee should be constituted for this purpose with the district collector as the chairperson, he added.
However, the Tirunelveli collector has not taken any steps to implement the above rules, Muthuraman alleged and sought the above relief. The case was adjourned for six weeks.