Out of an ‘alarming’ penalty of ₹321 crore levied on illegal quarry owners in Krishnagiri district, only ₹20 lakh has been collected, so far, and the fine has been allowed to be paid in installments, noted the southern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The tribunal on May 8 noted with ‘surprise’ that the quarry owners have also been granted permits to remove the illegally quarried minerals even before they could deposit the entire penalty amount.
In a case filed before the NGT in 2021 against quarrying of granite, gravel and rough stone without necessary clearances, officials from the departments of Revenue, Geology and Mining, and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) found that a quarry owner in Kallakurukki village had encroached an adjacent non-lease area and misused transport permits obtained for quarrying.
