Western Ghats ravaged by encroaching stone quarries

S Venkateshwari
The Western Ghats are collapsing due to illegal mining and smuggling of minerals in Kanyakumari district. Due to this there is a risk of desertification in 10 years. The Western Ghats starts in kerala and extends to Kanyakumari, tirunelveli and tenkasi districts. This hill is the reason why Kumari district is rich in natural resources, water bodies and agriculture is flourishing.
Taking sand from the river and extracting stones from the mountains is completely banned in kerala and the state government and the people are protecting the nature. For the needs of the state, a large amount of stone, gravel, sand etc. carry
Lands becoming deserts: The Western Ghats are dug to a depth of several feet like wells and minerals are extracted, so the agricultural lands around the hill look like a desert in the entire Kumari district including Kulasekaram, Chitrangode, Kalial, Pachiparai, Sungankadai, Villukuri, Kalyankadu, Aralvaimozhi. The Western Ghats, designated as a World heritage Site by UNESCO, is on the verge of extinction. If this situation continues, a large part of the mountain will disappear in a few years.
Due to the degradation of nature, there is a drought without rain during the monsoon season in the south-west, and there is a situation where there is no water for agriculture and the livelihood of people is affected. If the destruction of the mountains continues, it will cause the next generation to data-face major natural disasters even worse than this.
Realizing this, the youths and citizens show their protest by rejecting the trucks carrying mineral resources stealthily in the middle of the night.
The district administration waved its hands: The district administration, which has to control the quarrying of the Western Ghats by saying that it cannot be banned because it is related to the policy decision of the government, is cruel.
Heavy mineral-laden vehicles frequently cause road accidents and damage rural and national highways. Due to the continuous opposition of the public, the revenue department is engaged in the inspection and sealing of quarries other than the 15 quarries that are operating with government permission.
A team comprising the revenue department, the police and the mineral resources department monitors and confiscates trucks carrying heavy loads of mineral resources.
But this is all a scam to mislead people. Quarries should be allowed to extract rock only for local needs. Trafficking to kerala should be banned completely. Naturalists say that this is the only way to save the Western Ghats.
They said: "The Western Ghats are the reason why Kumari district is rich in natural resources and prosperous and receives monsoon rains. kerala state has more natural resources than this. The state government has made strict laws so that even small quantity of stone cannot be taken from there and used for construction.
The big stones that are taken from here could not be used to construct the breakwater wall and bait arch for the ports including Tenkaipatnam in Kumari district. But the stones are transported in quantity from here to many ports including Vilnjna in kerala state by politically influential persons.
At the same time, medical waste, chicken and fish and meat waste from kerala are loaded in trucks and dumped in water bodies in Kumari district.
If this situation continues, all the natural resources will be destroyed and very soon Kumari will become a dry district. "The government should bring strong laws to protect the Western Ghats, which is the best natural resource protection bulwark," he said.

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