Kochi: Kerala High Court has served notice to Kerala government and Indian Rare Earths Limited (IRE) regarding the issues raised related to mineral sand mining by the company. The chairman of the Assembly Committee appointed to study the mining and environmental issues related to it, Mullakkara Ratnakaran has also been served notice.
The petition was filed by an Alappad native KM Husain. The petitioner contended that the land of Alappad panchayath is being eroded and precautionary measured need to be taken. The court filed the petition which seeks orders for stoppage of mining, and will consider it after a week.
The petition mentions that the panchayat which had an area of 89.5 square kilometers has been reduced at an alarming rate. The area which had 10,000 families earlier, now has only 5,000 families.
The petition also cited the problem faced by fishermen who cannot any more carry out their activity because of mining by IRE. After several agitations and protests, finally a committee with Mullakkara Ratnakaran as chairman was appointed.
The Committee tabled its report in the Assembly on 2 February 2018. Although the report contains several recommendations to prevent the erosion of Alappad, none of them has been implemented.
The petition requests high court order to the government to explain the actions taken based on the report, and to implement them in a timebound manner, and to ask IRE to stop mining among other things.