Greens welcome Tribunal's order

Kozhkode: The district nature protection committee took out a victory march here on Wednesday following the National Tribunal’s verdict on quarrying. The tribunal has made it mandatory to get the sanction from the state-level environment boards for quarrying in up to 25 hectares.  

The quarry operators are required to obtain the consent from the Pollution Control Board (PCB), environment clearance from the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and a quarrying permit from the Department of Mining and Geology (DMG).

“So far, the committee headed by the district collector could sanction quarrying in up to 25 hectares, which has now been stopped,” said Mr T.V. Rajan, general secretary, Kerala river protection committee. The process till now was decided through the environmental clearance from the District Environment Impact Assessment Authority (DEIAA) based on the recommendations of the District Expert Appraisal Committee (DEAC).

This will result in the decrease of quarrying in the state, as many of them are functioning illegally. The DEIAA headed by the collector would be suspended.

Environmentalist Thayatt Balan inaugurated the march which was attended by many people.