Cabinet seeks ordinance on stone-crushing regulation

The State Cabinet on Thursday decided to recommend to Governor H R Bhardwaj to promulgate an ordinance for the regulation of stone-crushing in the State.
 
Briefing reporters, Higher Education Minister V S Acharya said the High Court had directed the Government to bring out a policy by September 10. Hence, the Cabinet has decided to request the Governor to promulgate the ordinance (Karnataka Regulation of Stone Crushers Bill 2011) at the earliest, he added.

The High Court had in 1998 directed the State government to identify safe zones for locating stone-crushing units, which are causing wide-spread pollution.

It had laid down certain guidelines to be followed while identifying such zones. As per the guidelines, safe zones should be two km away from the national highways, habitats, temples, schools and rivers, 1.5 km from the State highways, 500 metres from a link road, eight km from the municipal council office, four km from the district headquarters and two km from the taluk headquarters. The Government had, however, found the court guidelines practically impossible to follow.

There are 2,266 stone-crushing units in the State. While 787 of them are located within the quarry lease area, the remaining 1,479 are operating outside the lease area. These units, especially those located outside the lease area, are causing immense damage to environment in the absence of any regulation. Though Acharya refused to divulge details of the ordinance Bill, he said the Bill has been prepared based on the court guidelines.

The Bill will ensure prevention of environment pollution, he added.

Release of prisoners

The Cabinet also decided to recommend to the Governor to release 105 prisoners on the basis of good conduct. Of this, 66 prisoners have completed 14 years imprisonment. The government has followed all the stipulated process in selecting prisoners for the release, he added.

Urban housing

The State Cabinet gave its approval to implement Namma Mane project, which envisages providing housing facility to the urban poor. People whose annual income is below Rs one lakh will be selected. The Karnataka Housing Board will construct multi-storey housing complexes and distribute flats to the beneficiaries, Acharya said.

Under the project, three categories of flats will be constructed; Bhagya (built up area of 400 sq ft and costing Rs three lakh), Sampada (built up area of 500 sq ft and costing Rs four lakh) and Yashassu (built up area of 600 sq ft and costing Rs five lakh). KHB will take up the project on the outskirts of Bangalore and Ramanagara district, he added.