KARIMNAGAR: Abandoned granite quarries are posing a threat to both people and animals in the district. Quarrying stopped at many places midway for various reasons and water collected in those quarries. On one hand, deep trenches are full with stagnated water, while on the other, farmers suffer from lack of irrigation water for their fields.
Stagnated water in the vicinity of human habitations leads to several health problems.
As per norms, owners should fill deep trenches with sand after completing quarrying or when abandoning a quarry for any reason. However, this is never done. Some quarries in the district were left owing to losses and operations at some were stalled due to legal problems.
The Kachireddypalli quarry was abandoned due to objections from the forest department. Quarrying at Myadampalli in Malyal mandal was stopped when villagers raised protests and the case is pending in the court. Villagers put up a stiff fight against the Myadampalli quarry because hundreds of people lost their livelihood as custardapple pluckers in areas around the granite mine.
The other issue is that granite polishing units release waste water which enters nearby fields. Many farmers stopped agricultural activities due to the waste water discharge, said Odyaram of Gangadhara mandal.
According mines and geology assistant director T Laxman Babu, about 300 granite quarries were given permission for excavation, of which 50 percent were closed due to various problems. He asked for a report on their impact, he said.
Recently, joint collector H Arun Kumar wrote to the groundwater department about the threat posed by abandoned quarries and also because of quarrying beyond permitted limits.
