Shivapura residents may go for mass suicide if crusher unit is not closed

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, Sep 15, 2015: Addressing media, Ashok Shetty, a local resident, said that the situation in the area was worsening by the day because of the Mookambika stone crushing unit, which was functioning near the village.  Residents of Shivapura in Karkala taluk have threatened to commit mass suicide if the district administration did not immediately ban a stone crushing unit operating in the area.

The unit has been operating for 18 years, illegally. It has contributed to devaste the lives of the people in the region. The concerned officials have been told and appeals made several times, to stop the unit.

Absolute lack of responsibility and care by the local administration has made us approach the Upa Lokayukta. Justice Subhash B Adi, who visited the site on June 27, ordered a closing down of the unit until further decision is taken on the matter at the Lokayukta court. He had also ordered that the officials conduct a site survey.

Local residents complained that the unit had been reopened and had been functioning from August 20, with the support of the gram panchayat and the district officials of the Mines and Geology Department. He also accused the police officials of being hand-in-glove with the unit owners.

Local legislator, district in-charge minister,  DC and the superintendent of police have been contacted about the problems caused by the crusher unit, but they have not responded positively. The SP  said that the issue was a civic matter, and the police could not intervene. The crusher unit, therefore, continues to operate on 10 acres of land and the Mines and Geology Department has even renewed the licence of the unit on July 27, disregarding the orders of the Upa Lokayukta.  Large scale corruption is also present.

The village residents added that they have kept their hopes on the Lokayukta order that is pending for further hearing.   Lokayukta Court had a sitting on August 25 and the case was adjourned for the next hearing. The unit, which has temporarily shut down for about two and a half months, has started contributing again, to environment and pollutions of various types.

Rama Baligar said that the people in the village had to struggle with cooking too, as the dust  from the unit engulfed the surrounding atmosphere.

Blasting at the stone-crushing unit has made the people worry about their houses, and given them sleepless nights. The Supreme Court norms has specified that  crusher unit can not be set up within one kilometre of human habitations and within 500 metres of a public roads. There are 15 to 16 houses within 150 metres’ of the crushing unit in the village, while a public road too passes within 100 metres of the unit, both of which are violations of the Supreme Court order.

He added that children have to struggle to go to school.  Residents of the village have to struggle for food, what with the dust rising from the unit contaminating food and air. The road is destroyed owing to continuous plying of the trucks carrying crushed stone. Farming is also impossible in the area. One of the ladies in the village complained that her brother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer owing to the massive pollution in the region.  The fine dust that permeates the whole area is causing ’silicosis’ which affects the respiratory tract.

Shivapura residents have  threatened to stage a huge protest rally within the next 20 days outside the office of the deputy commissioner, adding that ’mass suicide’ would also not be ruled out.