Probe sought into alleged illegal quarrying at Aralam farm

Allegations of illegal quarrying in the land earmarked for tribal rehabilitation at Aralam farm, under the guise of sourcing stones for the construction of an elephant fence along the Aralam sanctuary, have prompted demand for a Vigilance probe into the matter.

Adivasi Dalit Munneta Samithi president Sreeraman Koyyon accused the Tribal Resettlement Development Mission (TRDM) site manager of facilitating violations by permitting quarrying in the land to address a reported shortage of granite for the ₹52-crore project.

Quarrying is prohibited within a stipulated distance from a wildlife sanctuary, and a similar extraction in 2006 by Nirmiti Kendra for tribal housing had been halted, he recalled.

According to him, the contractor had taken up the fence work nearly two years ago by quoting below the tender amount and is now using stones from an old granite protection wall for the construction. Despite this, funds were allegedly claimed citing fresh granite procurement costs, even as illegal quarrying was done in the land with the tacit support of officials.

Meanwhile, panchayat president V. Shobha and vice-president Jimmy Anthinattu inspected the site and confirmed that quarrying activities had taken place without obtaining a no-objection certificate from the panchayat. The inspection also found that those involved had encroached upon houses built for tribals and temporarily occupied them. On the instructions of the panchayat secretary, orders were issued to stop all quarrying activities, panchayat officials said.

Responding to the charges, officials said no quarrying had been carried out in the rehabilitation area and claimed that only stone quality testing was undertaken. TRDM site manager C. Shyju said the objective was to assess granite availability for the elephant fence project.

Aralam Farm managing director S. Sujeesh said no permission had been granted to anyone either for quarrying or for quality testing of granite. He clarified that the contract stipulated sourcing stones from outside and when the contractor flagged shortage of stones during a review meeting, the farm office had sought the District Collector’s opinion on whether stones from the Kottappara area could be used.