Balal village a sitting duck for landslide as hilltop quarry dumped tonnes of debris on roadside

Balal (Kasaragod): On top of the breathtaking Balal's Muthappan Mala, a hill named after the most popular deity in Malabar, one can kiss the floating clouds and see aeroplanes landing at Kannur airport, 60 km away.

Down the hill, around 60 residents are living on the brink of a disaster as incessant rain has brought down tonnes of debris from a granite quarry to their doorsteps and property.

The residents have been protesting since May urging Divon Rock Products Limited to remove the earth scooped from the quarrying site and dumped on the slope of the hill before the rains. "But they ignored our pleas and now the debris has destroyed our sources of water, flooded our plantations, and is threatening to bury our houses and lives," said Sandhya Sivan, the member of Maruthumkulam ward in Balal grama panchayat.

On Monday, Kasaragod district geologist Vijaya K K visited the granite quarry atop the hill and directed Divon not to restart quarrying without removing the loose earth. On Saturday, Vellarikkundu tahsildar V Murali visited the site and recommended the same action to the district collector Inbasekar Kalimuthu.

Temporary relief but not a solution

Divon Rock Products Limited has environmental clearance to quarry 2 lakh tonnes of granite from 11.6 acres at Muthappan Mala. The clearance granted in July 2021 is valid for five years or up to June 2026. The life of the mine is nine years.

But residents and workers said quarrying had been going on for the past 12 to 14 years.

Initially, the mine was owned by Kanhangad-based businessman Madan Nagaraj. In 2018 or five years ago, Divon was incorporated when big miners Abraham K Thomas from Pathanamthitta and Joshy Mathew from Ernakulam joined Nagaraj.

Divon is now a key supplier of construction aggregate such as gravel and sand to Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Limited (MEIL) which is building 77km of the six-lane NH 66 from Chengala in Kasaragod district to Taliparamba in Kannur district.

In the initial years of the quarry, around 20 tippers of 16-tonne capacity used to roll out of the site every day. "Now 30 to 40 trucks leave the quarry every day," said Narayanan P R, who works as a driver for the quarry.

Shaji Thomas, who lives close to the quarry, said initially the company was levelling the rocky hill that was jutting into the sky. Now, it is scooping the earth and depositing the debris on the roadside snaking through the hill, he said.

Divon has dug two huge catchment ponds down the hill to trap the debris if it slides down in the rain. But the rain was heavy and the debris ploughed different routes and ended up damaging properties downhill, blocking a road and sources of drinking water.

"The stones and mud that slid down covered the well of our neighbour Muhammed," said Shruti N, a resident of Konnanamkadu colony, a settlement of 39 Dalit and Adivasi families. "The colony draws drinking water from a pond above our houses. But the slushy water from the quarry's pond has filled our pond," she said.

Divon cleared Muhammed's well and supplied drinking water in a tanker to the colony for two days. "We don't know how long the company will do it," she said.

Sunny Azhathu, who retired from CRPF, runs a cattle farm downhill. The debris has washed into his property too. "But the worst part is the debris has shut the sources of water on the two sides of the hill. People here depend on the springs. Now the springs at Maruthumkulam, Ponnumunda, and Balal on one side and Konnanamkadu and Kondupally on the other side have dried up," he said.

Alex Sebastian, a lawyer, and teacher, said the debris from the quarry blocked the Konnanamkadu-Kondupally road connecting Rajapuram twice, once in May and now in the first week of July. "It is a kutcha road but an important road. The company cleared the debris both times. But we cannot always live under the fear of a landslide," he said.

The debris has washed into his 20-acre estate where he has coconut trees, arecanut trees, nutmeg, and rubber.

Tipper lorry driver Narayanan said the company had been dumping the mud on the roadside for years. Some residents estimated it to be 2 lakh tonnes spread over an acre.

"But that mud had set," said Narayanan. "The company erred in dumping mud a few months before this monsoon. It is the loose mud that is now causing havoc," he said.

When geologist Vijaya visited the site, quarry manager Pratheesh V suggested that Divon could build retaining walls to stop the slide. But for that, the quarry would need permission for drilling and blasting to excavate rocks. "We opposed it. We told the geologist that blasting can trigger landslides and she agreed," said ward member Sandhya Sivan.

But Narayanan said the piles of the earth are mountainous and cannot be removed in days, weeks, or months.

When Onmanorama visited the site, Divon's manager Pratheesh was not available for comments. Calls made to his phone went unanswered.

Evicted seven years ago and still in darkness

Residents said Divon had been buying up properties of residents whose houses or properties faced threats from the quarry. But three families who were shifted to a safe place seven years ago are still living in darkness.

In 2016, Nagaraj's company shifted Nitheesh Narayani (26), a day labourer, and his brother Nishant N (23), to a safer house 1km away but considered quarry land. Their ancestral house was 300m from the quarrying site.

Apart from the brothers, the company had also shifted Karichi (60), who lives alone; Marichi (55) and her husband Adoor (60); and Sukumaran (60) and his wife Kalyani to the same location.

Each of the four families was given a house with two-bedroom and a kitchen. "But the houses given to us do not have a power supply," said Nitheesh. He approached the KSEB and the panchayat but they asked for land and house documents. "The quarry owners are neither transferring the property to our name nor are they sharing the property documents to help us get power connection," he said.

On Monday, Nitheesh was on top of the Muthappan Mala with the protesters, perhaps for some light and fresh air.