Nooranad: In a flagrant disregard to a decision arrived at a recent all-party meeting convened by Agriculture Minister P Prasad, soil mining resumed at ecologically sensitive Mattappally Hills here this morning, forcing the local residents to call for a protest.
According to eyewitnesses, the contracting agency reached the location with men and machines around 5 am and resumed mining under heavy police protection. The contractor claimed he had not received any stop memo from the revenue department.
Peeved at the violation of the agreement reached in the all-party meeting on November 16, Revenue Minister K Rajan sought a report from the district collector over the resumption of mining activities. He added that no one would be allowed to subvert the decision taken in the meeting chaired by the agriculture minister.
Local residents said the contracting agency shipped at least five truckloads of soil from the location within the first couple of hours before they waylaid the lorries carrying soil for NH expansion work at Kayamkulam.
Earlier on Sunday night, the contractor approached the Nooranad police seeking protection for mining, stating that he had yet to receive any stop memo. He also cited an order by the Kerala High Court in the company's favour and argued that the Alappuzha district collector has already issued a pass for transporting soil from the location round the clock.
Irate locals, on their part, have started mobilising at the location. More people are expected to join the protest, which might snowball into a law and order situation yet again.
The development also unnerved the left parties, especially the CPI which initiated the all-party discussion. “It (resumption of mining) shows a complete disregard for the public's opinion. The High Court is slated to consider a petition moved by local residents against the mining at Mattappally in the next two days. The people will not let a single load of soil be transported from here at least till then,” said Noushad, CPI mandalam secretary.
An all-party meeting, convened by Prasad, a CPI minister in the LDF cabinet, here on November 16 decided to stop the excavation work till the District Collector submits a report. The meeting also entrusted the Collector to assess whether the Standard Operating Procedure as laid down by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had been followed while granting the permission to mine. The minister, also a resident of Mattappally, had directed the collector to convince the court about the ecologically fragile nature of the location and the hill’s role in ensuring drinking water and previous natural calamities reported in the area.
However, sources confirmed that the district collector has yet to submit his report.
The location had witnessed widespread protests in the first week of November, as the local residents, including the families residing in the hill valley, staged a public protest against the mining activities. Despite the protester’s assertion that a petition against the mining was under consideration by the High Court division bench, the authorities refused to pay heed. They gouged out around 30 loads of soil throughout the day. When the locals staged a protest, the police intervened, baton-charged the crowd, and arrested over 100 people. After a brief hiatus, mining resumed at the location under heavy police protection a couple of days later but was wound up soon on an intervention by Prasad.