Nearly 200 residents of Neelimala in Anavoor village of Neyyattinkara taluk have submitted a signature petition to the District Collector seeking a stop to quarrying in the region.
The petition has also been submitted to the Deputy Collector (Disaster Management), Pollution Control Board, Mining and Geology Director, District Police Chief (Thiruvananthapuram Rural), tahsildar, and the panchayat secretary.
The Anavoor-based Neelimala Samrakshana Samithi has alleged that the quarry mafia, after using enticements and coercion, was acquiring land there and razing hillocks to the ground. Drinking water and fields had become the casualties of the mafia activities, and the residents lived without any security for their lives, property, health, or livelihood. Anti-social elements who were involved in criminal cases were those behind the quarrying. Nine quarries, with and without licences, had been functioning here for the past 10 years in violation of norms, courtesy a nexus with officials.
Besides the threat to health and livelihood, the quarrying posed a threat to the environment too. The people, a Samiti statement said, had decided to protest against the quarrying collectively, and the signature petition was a precursor to it.
