Blown away
KOCHI: Braving the blazing afternoon sun, two women carrying water pots on their heads walk along the Mazhuvannoor - Kolencherry road at Thattamugal.
Lets go back to the 1980s...
Like many other places, Thattamugal was a beautiful place with small hills, green agriculture fields, rich in vegetation and plenty of water. But over the years, the place underwent a big change. New houses, roads and other developments came up.
One of the changes was the coming up of a granite quarry at Thattamugal ward of Mazhuvannoor panchayat. The quarry blasted the peace out of the lives of the local residents.
aqueduct has developed leaks K Shijith
The Madaparambil quarry has been lying dysfunctional for the last couple of months after court made environmental clearance mandatory for all quarrying operations in the state. The quarry has already done enough damage to the environment, life and property of the residents.
It was in the 1990’s that the villagers began to get the feel of how it is to live in a war zone. The wail of the sirens, grind of machinery and sound of gelatine sticks tearing into the rock jolted them out of their peaceful existence.
The torture continued until quarrying in the area was stopped in the early 2000’s. The residents heaved a sigh of relief, but their relief was short lived. Another quarry and crusher unit began functioning adjacent to the previous one a couple of years ago. Even though quarrying has stopped for now due to lack of environmental clearance, residents fear that the activity will resume soon after the owners get the necessary clearance.
Says, K M Mathew, a sexagenarian and local resident whose house is just 100 meters away from the quarry, “I was born and brought up here. It was a serene and peaceful place, until the quarry began operations three decades ago.
Prior to that I hardly have any memories of people going places for water. After the first quarry was closed, we thought everything will go back to being normal. But the owner of the quarry started another one in the name of his son.
Years of quarrying has flattened the hill, which actually was a reservoir of water. The water level has gone down drastically and wells in the area have caved in. The tremors from the rock blasting has damaged my house. I had to replace my roofing with sheets.”
A number of houses are located in the vicinity of the quarry. And the buildings have taken most of the toll. According to local residents, the nearest house is situated at around 80 m away from the quarrying site. “My house was built one and a half years ago.
However walls and concrete began developing cracks all over. If quarrying begins again I don’t know how long the house will stand,” said another local resident, who did not wish to be named.
Other than depletion of the water table, dry wells, damaged houses etc quarrying has also led to several health problems and did lasting damage to agriculture.
According to residents, large lorries that transport rocks from the quarry kick up silica dust leading to health problems, mainly lung ailments. Many farmers in the region have stopped cultivating vegetables, pepper, nutmeg and pineapple due to pollution. The presence of silica in the atmosphere is also contaminating rubber milk.
Recently, more than 30 residents submitted a memorandum to the Human Rights Commission, District Collector and other authorities against the move to issue environmental clearance to the quarry.
Giving weightage to their charges, the District Special Branch, Ernakulam Rural Police have recently submitted a report before the District Collector informing him that the quarry if allowed to operate again will cause serious environmental issues.