Fresh guidelines for granite quarries

KOCHI: District Collector P I Sheik Pareeth has instructed the Kerala State Department of Mining and Geology to stop allotting licences to new granite quarries.The move comes as per the directions of the Revenue Department, in the wake  of surging complaints  about the functioning of quarries.  The Collector said that a guideline has been prepared, based on which permissions for the new quarries will be granted.Pareeth said that meetings with different government departments in this regard will be convened by the first week of February.  The unavailability of granites and the uncontrolled use of gun powder in the quarries will also be taken into account while preparing the guideline.