Magaral farmers demand officials to save agriculture by closing 10 stone quarries

According to the locals, more than 10 stone quarries are operating in the village that primarily depends on farming. The locals claimed that hundreds of lorries are entering the village with heavy loads every day and damage the roads besides causing air pollution. As a result, the villagers suffer from respiratory problems. Adding to the woes, the quarry owners also use a huge amount of explosives in violation of government rules affecting the farming activities, they said.

Shanthi from Magaral village said, “Our houses are also getting damaged since the lorries are entering the narrow streets with heavy loads. We are unable to do farming because of the stone quarries.”

The stone quarries are located very close to the farmlands and they dump the rocks close to the farms resulting in farming and day to day activities getting affected. They pointed out that the dust coming from the quarries were also affecting their farming and that they are ending up in huge losses every year. “Many times, we have asked the officials to look into the issue and come up with the solution for us but the officials have not taken any steps so far,” another resident said.

A few days back, when the villagers staged a protest demanding the officials to close the quarries to save their farmlands, the police along with Tahsildar visited the spot and pacified the protestors by assuring that steps would be taken.

When contacted, the Tahsildar Mithra Devi said, “There are certain rules given for those quarries who got the licence. We will check whether they are following those rules and if they are not following those rules action will be taken against them.”