R B Jagadish

Daijiworld Media Network – Karkala (EP)

Karkala, Feb 19: Officials of different departments, in a joint operation, seized four black stone quarries here on Tuesday, February 19. The quarries were reportedly functioning in deemed forest area.

The quarries are Joy Crusher owned by C M Joy at Palli limits, Nandalike, Srinidhi Crusher owned by Dinesh Shetty, Damodar Crusher in Gundyadka owned by Prashanth Kamath and Mahaganapathi Crusher owned by Dinesh. Most of the workers from Bihar and Orissa who were employed in all the quarries fled during the operation. The remaining few were taken into custody and questioned.

The licences issued to quarries earlier were cancelled as those are functioning in deemed forest area. Power supply also was stopped. Thereafter, the quarries were functioning using generator. It is said that hearing regarding deemed forest is pending in the court and several stone quarries are illegally functioning in deemed forest area in the taluk.

Tahsildar Mohammed Isaq, Land and Geology department officer Mahadev, ASP Krishnakanth, rural police station SI Nasir Hussain, forest office assistant RFO Prakash, village accountant Shivaprasad and others took part in the operation. Police will file cases against the illegal quarries after scrutinising necessary documents.