Quarry permission: Official apathy causing unrest among Sangareddy villagers
Take the case of Ralakathva, Solakpally, Sivanagar and Ootla villages of Jinnaram Mandal in Sangareddy district, where Mines and Geology officials and the district administration are forcefully trying to allow quarry activities against the will of the villagers
Hyderabad: Even as the State government is claiming to save water bodies from encroachments by setting up the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) in the Greater Hyderabad limits, its move to allow quarry activities against norms in rural areas is raising doubts over its intent.
Take the case of Ralakathva, Solakpally, Sivanagar and Ootla villages of Jinnaram Mandal in Sangareddy district, where Mines and Geology officials and the district administration are forcefully trying to allow quarry activities against the will of the villagers.
Interestingly, the district administration had cancelled the permission granted to set up a crusher near the quarry in 2022 after villagers protested against it. However, in June, the district administration again granted permission to set up a crusher near the quarry situated in close proximity to these villages.
Once again, the villagers have started protesting against the permission granted to set up a crusher near the quarry. Villagers argue that the mining and related operations pose a threat to their livelihood, health and environment and that the government should not allow the crusher operation in their villages. They allege that despite bringing the issue to the notice of the administration, the officials were not keen to cancel the permit.
Recently, the villagers of the affected villages submitted a representation to Sangareddy collector Valluru Kranti seeking her intervention in the issue. However, so far there was no response from the district administration.
In fact, during an appeal on the issue of alleged irregularities in the mining permission on August 5, the director of Mines and Geology pulled up mining officials for granting permission without proper enquiry and procedures. He asked the officials to submit a report to him within two days, but it is learnt that the officials have so far not submitted the report.
Earlier, during the public hearing, out of the 27 representatives invited, 17 members from the villages of Ralakathva, Solakpally and Sivanagar refused to give consent. Only 10 representatives approved, of whom 4 were outsiders not connected or affected by the quarry-crusher setup, and only 6 persons from impacted villages gave their consent. Given that the majority of affected villagers did not give consent, the license should not have been granted. But the mining official went ahead and granted permission against the norms.
Surprisingly, all the information provided by the MRO Jinnaram while issuing No Objection Certificate (NoC) has turned out to be false and incorrect. For instance, the quarry distance from the forest and lake was shown as 100 metres and 200 m respectively.
Whereas in reality, the lease area is on Madi Kunta and it is just 20 m away from the check dam. Similarly, it was mentioned that most of the surrounding area is covered with rocks and hillocks and that there is no active agriculture activities in the vicinity. Whereas in reality, there are active agricultural lands within 150 m.
As per the environment impact assessment (EIA) notification, 2006, activities such as mining, power generation and other various kinds of industrial projects need to be preceded by certain processes before they are granted permission to begin.
This includes assessing potential environmental impacts and conducting a public hearing. Within public consultation, two processes are required: a public hearing at the site or in its close proximity, and obtaining responses in writing from other concerned persons having a plausible stake in the environmental aspects of the project or activity.
In this case, the public hearing was conducted at the village instead of the site. In spite of 62 percent not giving consent, the mining lease has been granted leaving this important procedure of public hearing meaningless, the villagers pointed out.
Surprisingly, one lead acid battery recycling unit is being operated without any government permissions or procedure in the area. This unit is 200-300 m from Chilkam Cheruvu of Sivanagar village. These release considerable amounts of lead particles and fumes emitted into the air, deposited onto soil, water bodies and other surfaces, with both environment and human health negative impacts.
An RTI query regarding this is still pending since a year, informed a villager.
