Adverse effects of stone quarrying propel parents to keep children out of school in Karnataka's Nehru Nagar

Konanuru (Hassan dist): Residents of Nehru Nagar have kept their children away from the government high school for the past month, alleging that nearby stone quarrying is adversely affecting the students’ health and safety.

Despite repeated efforts by teachers to persuade parents to send their children to school, the situation remains unchanged.

Even interventions by A Manju, the local MLA, have failed to convince the parents,

The school has a total of 16 children studying from Classes 1 to 5, while the attached Anganwadi has seven children enrolled. However, parents have stopped sending their children to the school since January 19.

Mining activities are rampant close to the school and anganwadi. The students panic hearing the noise of blasting of the rocks. Besides, dust engulfs the school, posing a health threat to the students. Hence, the parents are adamant of not sending the children to school, until crushing activities are stopped or it is shifted to another place.

There are 100 families, belonging to Scheduled Caste and Tribes, in the village that have been identified as victims, who have lost their land for the construction of Hemavathi reservoir.

Stone quarrying is being conducted on two acres of land on survey number 116, at Arasikatte Kaval, near here. The mining activities have resulted in serious health concerns among the students and anganwadi children, allege the locals.

The houses, school and the children are affected due to the mining activity. Repeated pleas and complaints to the district administration have not yielded any result. Besides, the movement of heavy vehicles, with loaded stones, have damaged the village roads, the residents complain.

The farmers too complain that the dust and stone pieces have been damaging their agricultural lands, which would have an impact on agricultural activities in future.

The school, anganwadi and Ambedkar Bhavan are close to the mining region. The buildings nearby are developing cracks, due to the impact of exploding rocks. There is a fear of building collapse, complain the villagers.