Chennai, July 12 (BPNS)

Former MLA of Tenkasi, Tamil Nadu, Raviarunan has complained that in Tenkasi district of the state 9 out of the 32 stone quarries are functioning without any license. Raviarunan in a statement on Tuesday said that the state pollution control board had in a response to his RTI query said that 23 quarries were given license by the board. He said that the district collector had said that 32 quarries were functioning in the district and that this meant 9 quarries were functioning without a license.

Raviarunan in the statement mentioned that many quarries were moving stones from quarries much above the allowed tonnage and that the district authorities are taking a lackadaisical attitude. He said that while only 25 tonnes of stones are allowed to be transported more than 40 tonnes of stones are transported in trucks.

A senior transport officer with the Tenkasi office while speaking to BPNS said, “ We are charging 20,000 rupees to each truck that carry extra stones and in addition to this Rs 2000 is charged per extra tonne that these trucks carry.”

 He, however, said that he doesn’t know whether the quarries are functioning without a license and it was the district authorities who have to clarify that.

The former MLA however said that the district authorities must clarify how permission was granted to certain stone quarries to dig stones from 58-meter depth at Andipatti in the district. He said that this has led to water shortages in farm wells in the area.

The former MLA said that he has sent a petition to the state government and to the state pollution control board regarding the functioning of illegal quarries.