A disaster in the making

Environmental authorities must have heard by word of mouth that a serious ecological imbalance was being fostered in the area, but obviously they did nothing to take cognisance of it, let alone resist the large scale commercial extraction of pebbles. Resultantly, landslides have been occurring due to the burrowing into the crusty earth; rivers have changed course; and equally adversely the subterranean water flows have been affected.

Our correspondent saw at first hand how the lucre of stone trade has got many vested quarters beholden to it like butterflies to a flower. Some powerful syndicates have been formed with blessings from certain people in the administration and divisional forest officer's setup. It is alleged that the district administration and the DFO are indifferent to the wanton extraction of stone by scouring the land. Obviously, the syndicates and the local officials are in collusion, otherwise such blatant violation of law couldn't have taken place.

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We have four suggestions to make: first, stop the extraction business at once by an administrative decree; second, do a scientific study of the ecological implications of the extraction done since 1994 accompanied by a quantification of the damages wrought so far; third, take disciplinary action against the colluding officials; and finally, book the recalcitrant extractors.