KOCHI: The Supreme Court order on Thursday which held that the National Green Tribunal is vested with suo motu jurisdiction has brought cheers to the green activists in Kerala while the construction sector expressed fears that it will affect developmental works in the state.
The court was considering a batch of petitions filed by the state of Kerala and granite quarry owners challenging the NGT order increasing the minimum distance of quarries from residential areas to 200 m. The state government had reduced the minimum distance to 50 m in 2016. The Supreme Court order may lead to closure of around 1,500 granite quarries in the state which may lead to shortage of aggregates and delay development works.
The Kerala High Court had earlier limited the jurisdiction of the NGT order to new quarries and allowed existing ones to operate as per the earlier distance limit till the expiry of the term of licence. Welcoming the Supreme Court order, former chairman of Kerala Biodiversity Board V S Vijayan said the large number of granite quarries near reserve forests and in the Western Ghats was posing a threat to Kerala’s ecology. “The order will help bring regulation in the operation of quarries and bring a balance between development and ecology,” he said.
However, the construction sector, which is already struggling due to scarcity of aggregates, is concerned about the impact of the order. “The sector is already struggling due to spiralling price of cement and scarcity of aggregates. If the 200 m restriction is implemented many granite quarries will be closed which will adversely affect projects. Besides, infrastructure projects taken up by government will also be in jeopardy,” said Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) Kerala executive committee member Antony Kunnel.
According to a study conducted by Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) scientists T V Sajeev and C J Alex, there are 5,924 granite quarries with an average area of 0.02 to 64.04 hectares in the state. The total area of the quarries is 7,157.6 hectares. Central Kerala has 2,438 quarries covering an area of 3,610.4 hectares which is the highest in the state. There are 1,969 quarries in North Kerala and 1,517 in South Kerala. Palakkad district has the maximum number of quarries (867). Alappuzha is the only district which has no granite quarries.
There are 79 granite quarries with a total area of 85.83 hectares located within 500 m distance from reserve forests. As many as 1,378 quarries are located within one km from forest border. There are 1,486 granite quarries in Ecologically Sensitivity Zone category 1 areas while there are 169 quarries in category 2 areas. As many as 1,667 quarries are located in ESZ category 3 areas.