Illegal stone quarries resurface in Coonoor

Coonoor: Green activists are fuming over the resurfacing of illegal stone quarrying in the Coonoor hills. They want action from the Nilgiris district administration to book the offenders.

While there is a total ban on stone quarrying in the Nilgiris, of late, there are sporadic incidents of illegal stone quarrying.

Mr. S. Ananthakrishnan, an environmental activist in Coonoor, said that the High Court banned stone quarrying in the Nilgiris a decade ago.  But influential bigwigs are taking to quarrying in the Vandicholai-Kodamalai road limits in recent times. The concerned officers are turning a deaf ear to complaints.

The Nilgiris district collector should plunge into action to stop such illegal activities.  The district administration in the Nilgiris should convene a meeting of the concerned department officials who have recently joined duty in various parts of the Nilgiris and apprise them on the High Court ban on quarrying in the hills and the action needed to be taken against offenders, Mr. Ananthakrishnan added.

When contacted, Elephant G. Rajendran, green activist, said that as per the High Court instructions, the village administrative officer, tahsildar, police officer in the concerned limits and also the deputy director of geology and mining, should be held responsible for illegal stone quarrying.