Illegal quarry explosions go unabated in Kurnool district, pose threat to life

KURNOOL: Stone quarrying in Kurnool district continues to put life of workers at risk even after an explosion at Vigneswara Stone Crushing Unit at Hathi Belagal village in Alur mandal on August 3 claimed 12 lives, which hit national headlines.

Acting swiftly, the State government suspended officials of mines, police and revenue department on charges of negligence and complicity for allowing illegal stone quarrying. Six persons, including owner of Vigneswara crushing unit Srinivasa Chowdary, were arrested, and District Collector S Satyanarayana is till today conducting inquiries into the issue. The government has also cancelled the licences of the six units in the district.

Of late, the officials are issuing permission to quarries after careful scrutiny in view of the harmful effects of explosions on humans and animals. But some officials issue licences by accepting bribes and “the quarries operate just after obtaining the primary licence,” K Venkateswarlu, another villlager of Ulindakonda said.

Ulindakonda has six stone crushing units. Most of them operate without licence in Kallur, Panyam, Dhone, Krishnagiri, Veldurthi, Bethamcherla, Banaganapalle and other mandals of the district.
“As a result of indiscriminate explosions being carried out by these units, several houses in Bairapuram, Tadakanapalle, Tanda villages have developed cracks. The houses have been constructed with mud, Ramudu, a villager said.

According to official records, the district has 101 units, but actually the number is 10 times more. Many of them operate without obtaining permission from the authorities concerned. Several mine owners are said to be blatantly violating the norms laid down by the government.

Several explosions take place using unauthorised material such as detonators and the like.
Mining department deputy director P Raja Babu said that most mining owners operate with sub licenses and agreements from explosive contractors.

Fire cracker stock worth `10L seized
Kurnool : The police on Tuesday seized a lorry carrying fire cracker stock worth `10 lakh and took two persons into custody. The lorry was carrying 425 boxes of fire crackers from Sivakasi to Kurnool. Police took lorry driver Ch Sathim and Basheer Ahmed of Tamil Nadu into custody.