Alappuzha: The soil mining which resumed at Mattappally village near Nooranad on Monday under heavy police protection was stopped following protests by local residents.
As the mining activities will be suspended till November 16, the agitation will also be stopped temporarily, Mavelikkara MLA M S Arun Kumar informed the media.
An all-party meeting including the Revenue Minister, Agriculture Minister and Chief Secretary has been convened on November 16 to negotiate the issue. The Minister for Agriculture P Prasad is also expected to visit the mining site on the same day.
Hundreds of protesters including women arrived at the mining site - Mattappally Hill on Monday morning. The protests were organised on Kayamkulam-Punalur road and Pandalam - Nooranad road. The agitators protested in front of the police barricade.
The mining operations on 2.5 acres of the hill resumed on Monday with workers and machines reaching the site in the wee hours of the day. The soil extracted from here is being taken to the construction site of the National Highway near Kayamkulam. Considering a potential flare-up, the police have been keeping a strict vigil with both men and women personnel deployed at different points. The road leading to the mining site has also been closed for the public since the morning. The tehsildar of Karthikappally taluk was also present at the spot.
A couple of days ago, the location had witnessed widespread protests as the residents, including the families residing in the hill’s valley, waylaid trucks carrying the soil. Despite the protester’s assertion that a petition against the mining was under consideration of the High Court division bench, the authorities refused to pay heed and gouged out around 30 loads of soil throughout the day. When the residents staged a protest, the police intervened, baton-charged the crowd, and arrested over 100 people.
Intelligence agencies, meanwhile, expect the protest to spread to more parts of the region as the miners have proposed to target at least four hills across the region. Although the local body, Palamel panchayat, has refused to permit the mining, the contractors approached a High Court single bench and obtained a favourable order.
The foothills of the Palamel panchayat and the Pallikkal panchayat in its neighbourhood have come under the radar of the mining mafia since 2005. These regions have witnessed several bouts of protests over the issue. A study by the National Centre for Earth Science Studies initiated on a directive by the High Court, has already warned that the mining operations have a profound impact on the upper Kuttanad region. The immediate causality of destroying the hill, according to locals, will be the Karingalilchira punja, a polder network that also plays a key role in retaining the groundwater table of the region.