Udupi: Nalkuru residents rise in protest against quarries

Pics: Umesh Marpalli
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SM/MD)

Udupi, Dec 2: Hundreds of residents from Nalkuru and surrounding held a protest in front of the DC's office here on Monday December 2, expressing their concerns over stone quarries impacting health of people in the region.

The protestors complained that their fields were getting affected due to quarries and the health of the locals had deteriorated.

"Due to the presence of the quarries, the health of the locals in the area has deteriorated. Children are either born with disabilities or develop them later; pregnant women are also affected. Another major concern is water pollution," they said.

"The dynamites that are being used at the quarry are causing nuisance to the locals due to the noise they emit. The instruments and tools that are used do not have license and they do not abide by any rules as stipulated by the government," they said.

The farmers questioned as to where they could submit their queries and seek solutions to their problems. They demanded a stop on the quarrying work and warned of serious action against the owners of the quarries.

"Owners of the quarries act like goons. It is very difficult to get water, for which we have to go very far. Blasts create a lot of noise at night, and kids are afraid to go out of the house. They are facing lot of health realted problems because of the quarrying," they said.

Jayaprakash Hegde MP representing Udupi-Chikmagalur visited the DC's office and said, "This is not a personal issue, it is related to the entire place. The quarries have not followed a single government rule. Permission to start quarrying is given by the central government but here the DC has given the permission."

Gram panchayat president Sathish Shetty,  secretary Praveen Shetty, Rathnakar Hegde, Shivaraj, Manjunath Kotian, Ravi from Bangalore and others were part of the rally.

A memorandum was submmitted to the DC M T Reju.