Death trap: Defunct quarries a constant worry; officials, pit owners care two hoots

Rainy days are a worry for Kiran of Gundavu Padavu Koraga colony (near old Bajpe airport) here. 

“When it rains without break and the district administration declares a holiday for schools, I keep worrying over the safety of my children and those of others in the locality when they go out to play. The open laterite stone quarry pit, 300 metres from my house, is an invitation to disaster,” Kiran said. 

Just 100 metres from the place is another abandoned stone quarry brimming with rainwater, he said. 

Kiran recollects that a few years ago, a 12 year-old boy had drowned while swimming with his friends in an abandoned quarry pit at Kuntalaguri. 

The incident stirred up officials to act and they ordered the owner to get a barbed fence installed around the pit as a safety measure. Now, the fencing has given way and it’s back to square one.  

Former MLA Mohiuddin Bava recollects that after the drowning of two children at an abandoned quarry in Doomadachadavu in Bajpe police station limits in 2014, the then deputy commissioner A B Ibrahim had ordered the fencing of laterite stone quarry pits and installing signboards warning people to stay away from them. But the order was more honoured in the breach than in observance. 

There are 120 licensed laterite quarry units in DK district and 116 in Udupi district, sources in mines and geology department told DH.

There are more than 500 laterite stone quarries in DK district, if one includes illegal stone quarries, says Krishnappa, a stone quarry unit owner. All of them are left open, he said.

Upalokayukta Justice B Veerappa, during a surprise visit to a stone quarrying unit at Badaga Mijar in Moodabidri taluk in December 2024, had expressed shock and had told officials that quarries filled with water posed great risk to lives of humans, especially children, and animals.

Kiran said that he had complained to the Malavoor gram panchayat (GP) as hundreds of children from a private school are often seen playing around the quarry pit at Gundavu Padavu.

Panchayat officials replied to Kiran, saying only the mines and geology department was empowered to safely close the pit.

Sources in the department told DH that prior to abandoning quarry units, owners should level them with mud and restore the land to its original state.

After taking measures like building a wall around the pit and installing boards warning the public, a ‘closure plan’ should be submitted to the department, they said.

Officials admitted that no strict action had been initiated against quarry owners who failed to submit closure plans. Following deaths due to drowning in quarry pits, the Bantwal taluk panchayat too had passed orders to build fences around quarry pits. 

A few days ago, Sagar, 28, from Benjanpadavu in the taluk, drowned in an abandoned quarry filled with rainwater.

“Every drowning incident in pits is an eye-opener for authorities. But we failed to act,” sources in the district administration said.

DK deputy commissioner Darshan H V told DH that he would seek a report from the tahsildar regarding unguarded quarry pits and take necessary action. 

“Every drowning
incident in pits is
an eye-opener for authorities. But we failed to act."

Sources in the district administration