Unscientific use of land and development
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Kerala is now on a development spree with projects to build sea walls, railway lines, roads and buildings and the immediate casualty are the mountains on the Western frontiers. Each of the mighty projects costing crores of rupees are being undertaken, using political influence. The natural wealth is exploited flouting provisions of the Panchayathi raj laws and bypassing elected members of the local bodies. The exploiting elites are also throwing to the wind laws pertaining to mining, geology, environment, pollution and handling explosives. For example, the borders of Kottayam and Idukki districts, which are part of the highly sensitive Western Ghats, are being leased out by the local panchayats for granite and laterite mining and crushing units. At least 3000 acres of such crucial land is being misused by over 100 crushing and mining units across the region.
Other than steel and timber, ninety percent of the raw materials used for house construction, like granite, laterite, hollow bricks, cement, crushed stones, marble come from the hills and mountains. Hills are being destroyed for meeting the needs of constructions which will last for just 30 to 50 years. Each exploited mountain is turning into a heap of rubbish within the life span of an average person. Then the land mafia uses rice fields and wetlands to dump the concrete waste. Mindless and unscientific constructions are badly affecting our survival in this world.
The growing clout of mining and construction mafias over Kerala society is a topic to be studied with accuracy and concern. Thirty percent of the big mansions across the state remain locked with nobody staying inside. Almost all affluent class people are now competing with each other to construct summer homes in tourism locations like Munnar and Wagamon. They include politicians, professionals, businessmen and religious heads. Instead of small houses, they construct big mansions displaying their money power. While people in Western countries show how a family can live in a 100 sq.ft. house, in Kerala 10,000 sq. ft. mansions are being constructed for owners or visitors to stay for very brief periods in a year. Those who are settled in Gulf countries also build palatial bungalows in Kerala, just to keep it locked forever. The number of people owning more than one house is on the incline.
Mining is now happening in Kerala without any control. Tipper lorries move across the state with plundered natural resources of the hilly region and those who protest against this kind of day light robbery are treated as enemies of development. Impact studies and protests by real environmentalists are ignored by the government and the mining mafia who say that there is no alternative for laterite and granite
Each mountain area of the region protects its own watersheds and rivulets. Ninety percent of the herbs mentioned in Ayurveda are grown on the Western Ghats. The biodiversity is so rich that it can sustain human generations for long and in a healthy way. But stone crushers are badly affecting the growth of medicinal plants and herbs apart from causing respiratory ailments to human beings. Even domestic animals face danger. The Madav Gadgil committee report on conservation of these sensitive regions is facing strong resistance from vested interests.
Unscientific aspects of mining
The mining act passed in 1961, meant for small scale explosions to ensure the immediate needs of housing, allow mining only up to 20 feet below the earth’s surface. However, instead these laws are being flouted by the powerful.3 Now, technology equipped mafias are conducting large scale mining, misusing the same law and explosions happen under the surface of the earth even at a depth 400 feet and sometimes even 900 feet. Bombs are being used as explosives and the impact of explosion is so severe that the stability of houses and buildings is often affected. Tremors caused by explosions4 are creating an earth quake like situation in the hill areas, posing a threat to wildlife and survival of human beings.
Mining is being regulated using an act passed 50 years ago. In Kerala’s context, it is unscientific. Here goes the statutory distance from mining quarries with regular explosions from human settlements.
State Distance (metres)
Karnataka 200
Tamil Nadu 300
Maharashtra
500
Goa 200
Kerala 100