Quarries deal crushing blow to these villagers

Units ordered to close many times, but reopened soon after

It is now the seventh year of protest. But, for the residents of Kenchanakuppe, Dasappana Doddi, Kallagopahalli and Thammanadoddi coming under Kenchanakuppe Gram Panchayat, next to Bidadi, the struggle to get the stone quarrying and crushing units closed continues.

About 70 stone crushing units dot these areas and licences for these were cancelled in 2007 and 2009, but the activities in some units continue relentlessly.

In 2006, people in Kenchanakuppe village decided to protest against the quarrying when the temple of their local deity Muthurayaswamy Temple, sitting on the foot of the hill housing the Narasimhaswamy temple, was in danger of being brought down by the incessant quarrying and blasting.

 “They started quarrying on the hill itself and the blasting and quarrying damaged our houses and very soon cracks started to develop. That is when we got together and decided to make a representation to the Bangalore Rural Deputy Commissioner,” Chandrashekar K S, the man behind the campaign, said. Besides, the layer of dust on the crops were ruinous for the largely farming community and the health of the cattle was also affected.

“I collected 450 signatures for the petition, but by the time we reached the DC’s office, we were only about 10 people remaining. The others had been threatened and driven away by those who owned the crushing units and their people,” he says. The futility of the exercise can be seen in the fact that the quarrying activities have been shut down at least four times since 2006, by various authorities, but they have managed to resume.

In 2010-11, 28 of the 30 crushing units were forced to shut shop by the then DC. But sources familiar with the issue in Ramanagara area say that the demand from Bangalore for the crushed stone was so high that activities resumed quickly enough.

Full swing

“Infrastructure building activities in Bangalore were in full swing. There was demand for this even from Metro construction. It is no surprise that quarrying picked up quickly enough,” the source commented.

A complaint was lodged with the Lokayukta as early as 2007. Despite repeated visits to see the case through, nothing came of it. As recently as two months ago, the Lokayukta police in Ramanagara put a stop to the blasting and crushing, but the activities quietly resumed three weeks later.

So persistent are the efforts of the quarrying lobby that when power connections were discontinued to the stone crushing units, the owners demanded restoration of power connections to operate their borewells. Once the connections were restored, there was no stopping them.

“Even now, if you look at the power bills, you can easily establish that quarrying is going on,” Chandrashekar said.

For all his trouble, Chandrashekar was assaulted in 2010, a charge which the crushing unit owners do not deny. As far as they are concerned, he is an ‘educated man,’ out to create trouble for them.

According to them, the cancellation of licences has resulted in loss of income for many migrant families, who came from Tamil Nadu and North Karnataka and also ruined their business. Though they maintain that all activities have stopped now, it is easy to spot their lies, as trucks pass every now and then, carrying crushed stones.
For the villagers, their nightmare does not seem to end. Almost every other house sports cracks. Ratna, the president of Kenchanakuppe Stree Shakti group describes how the walls shake and electricity goes off, whenever there is blasting.

“Blasting usually happens in the evening. Inevitably things start falling on the floor and the power goes off. How are our children supposed to study?” she asked.
For others like Dundamma, a daily wage labourer, the cracks in her house are a constant reminder of her poverty.

“My husband died after the construction of this house. Cracks developed quickly, but I have trouble raising my two children. I cannot find money to repair this,” she said. In one instance, a mud wall collapsed competely and the owner of the house, Dasappa, just gave up. For, the Panchayat Development Officer asked him to show the foundation of the house, if he wanted to get financial assistance to rebuild the wall.

“Where will we get the foundation now?” he asked, a thought echoed by many villagers.

Ramanagara DC Sriram Reddy said that the units are slowly being moved into safe zones in Magadi and Kanakapura, but agreed that quarrying is still continuing despite licences being cancelled.

“We have issued notices to these people, but I am yet to find out the status,” he said.

Chandrashekar agrees that notices have indeed been issued. For, he has started receiving threats once again.