PIL against licences for granite quarrying

HYDERABAD: A retired employee of the Singareni Collieries has brought to the notice of the High Court about grant of illegal quarry leases for colour granite and black granite, and quarry leases for stone and metal in Karimnagar district without obtaining statutory clearances under the Environmental Protection Act, 1996. A public interest litigation petition filed in this regard will come up for hearing before a division bench comprising chief justice Madan B Lokur and justice PV Sanjay Kumar on April 23. The petition enclosed a list of names of companies which obtained quarry leases.The petitioner, T Jagan Mohan Rao, submitted that the quarry leases were granted to various companies without issuing advertisements or notifications or calling for public auction. The grant of 650 illegal quarry leases would have an impact on about 400 water tanks, and  it was likely that local villagers would be permanently deprived of water and water resources due to quarry operations, he said.