Stone-crushing units in Karnataka be shifted in six months:SC

A bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly also imposed a cost of Rs one lakh each on the state government and Quarry Owners Association which had pleaded for modification for its order on the ground that it was not feasible to implement.

The court had on April 8 last upheld Karnataka High Court's order to move out the units to safe zones and granted one year's time to the government and the quarry owners to implement the order.

The High Court had said that the safe zones be located at least 50 km from each other and it should be at least two km from national and state highways, one km from villages, schools, rivers, temples. It had said the zone should be four km from district headquarters and eight km from municipal corporation boundaries.

Seeking modification in the order, the state government submitted it had appointed various technical institutions to locate possible safe zones but it has come to the conclusion that no such safe zones could be located in the state.

The matter dates back to 1998 when the High Court had issued guidelines to the state to identify safe zones for stone crushing units.

The High Court order was challenged by the Quarry Owners' Association, Mangalore, and Karnataka Stone Crushers’ Association in the apex court which dismissed their petition.