HC orders Uttarakhand to respond to plea against stone crushers in residential areas

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand high court on Wednesday directed the state government to respond within four weeks to a petition that complained about the increase in stone crushers being operated in residential and other sensitive locations in the state.

A division bench comprising chief justice Vipin Sanghi and justice Rakesh Thapliyal issued notice on a petition filed by Independent Media Initiative Society Haldwani through its president Apoorva Joshi, a resident of Almora district.

Lawyer Dushyant Mainali, who appeared for the petitioner, said the high court has given the Uttarakhand government four weeks to file its response.

Mainali said the PIL alleged that public health was being compromised due to the mushrooming of polluting stone crusher industries in residential areas by changing the definition of “abadi” (residential areas) and by granting exemption of minimum siting criteria (minimum safer distances from sensitive locations) in Uttarakhand Stone Crusher Screening Plant, Mobile Stone Crusher, Mobile Screening Plant, Pulverizer Plant, Hot Mix Plant, Redimix Plant License Policy 2021.

Mainali said the licence policy changed the definition of “abadi” from “a residential house” to “at least 10 residential houses” and thus making residents of nine houses less than 300 metres from the stone cluster clusters completely voiceless. “Also, the minimum distance of 300-metres provided from at least 10 houses is in direct negation of the recommendation of the expert committee accepted by high court which says — “A stone crusher may be established at a place not less than 250-metres away from any residential house and 350-metres away from the residential area.”

He added that the petition also highlighted the inaction of the authorities concerned in not relocating stone crushers identified to have been established in violation of norms and were ordered to be relocated by the high court in 2010 and 2012.

“This change of definition of abadi and blanket relaxation is resulting in mushrooming of these polluting industries inside green villages and further an escape route has been provided to those existing stone crushers from relocation which were directed to be shifted by this court as they are running in human habitations and other sensitive locations of the state”, the public interest petition said.