Soil extraction by levelling a hillock at Mattappally in Palamel grama panchayat, near Mavelikara, resumed on Monday morning forcing residents to hit the roads in protest. The protesters blocked trucks transporting soil extracted from the area.
The contractor restarted the mining despite an all-party meeting chaired by Agriculture Minister P. Prasad on November 16, 2023 decided to suspend soil extraction until District Collector John V. Samuel submitted a detailed report to the government. The Collector was asked to look into the mining permit issued by the Department of Mining and Geology and whether standard operating procedures were followed at Mattappally. Mr. Samuel who visited the mining site last week has not yet submitted the report.
Local ward member K. Ajayghosh said the mining firm had transported one truckload of soil from Mattappally with police protection in the early hours of the day. “We later blocked three trucks with soil. We will only allow the trucks to leave the area after unloading the soil at Mattappally Hill. If they do not budge, we will continue to block the trucks as long as it takes,” Mr. Ajayghosh said. The impasse continues at the time of the filing of this report.
The contractor, meanwhile, said that the government had not issued any stop memo and the soil was removed based on High Court permission.
‘Ground realities’
Speaking to media persons, the Agriculture Minister said that the contractor had a hidden agenda and was deliberately trying to create issues. “Soil extraction at Mattappally was started based on the court order. As such, the police were obliged to provide protection to the mining activities. However, following the mass protests, an all-party meeting deliberated the issue in detail and decided to halt the soil extraction after identifying some anomalies in permitting the mining there. The Collector has been asked to submit a report. The contractor’s attempt to restart the mining activities could only be seen as a declaration of war against the people. The Mavelikara tahsildar met the contractor, but the latter was not ready to back down citing the court order,” Mr. Prasad said adding that the government would try to convince the court of the ground realities.
The District Collector, meanwhile, said that the report on Mattappally soil extraction would be submitted to the Agriculture Minister on Tuesday.
On November 10, residents clashed with the police over the removal of soil from Mattappally for the development of the National Highway 66. After mining activities resumed two days later, residents, including women and children, blocked roads. The district administration intervened and declared a temporary halt to soil extraction. The all-party meeting decided to continue with the pause on mining.
Fear of water shortage
Residents fear that “indiscriminate” mining would be detrimental to the environment and result in an acute drinking water shortage in the region.
Earlier, the State government and the High Court permitted soil extraction from Mattappally. The residents, however, have filed an appeal in the court challenging the single-Bench order. The move to extract soil before a decision by the High Court’s Division Bench infuriated the residents and resulted in protests.
