Government officials face workers’ ire over closure of stone quarry

Following several complaints by residents about dust pollution caused by the activities in the quarry, a team of officials, led by the Assistant Director of the Department of Geology and Mines inspected the site at Adi Annamalai on Wednesday.

When quarry workers were informed by the district administration officials that they should stop work, it resulted in an verbal altercation between them and the government team. The workers expressed their strong opposition to the move to stop operations claiming that it would affect their livelihood.

However, the officials stuck to their stand and tried to bring earth movers to the spot to dig a trench across the road and prevent lorries from entering the quarry for carrying the loads out.

Angered by this, the quarry workers to gheraoed the officials and prevented them from leaving the place. The workers demanded a lasting solution to the problem. The workers said they were willing to operate the quarry if the government was willing to auction it.

Even as the verbal argument between the two sides escalated, police and revenue department officials rushed to the spot and closed the quarry for a fortnight. The district administration officials left only after the workers dispersed from the place.