Chikaballapur district administration blames heavy rains for the August 24 landslide at the popular tourist destination Nandi Hills, about 50 km from Bengaluru, but environmentalists have a fresh idea of this: illegal quarrying. According to them, the actual triggering reason behind the landslide might be the illegal stone crushing units operating in the region.
Heavy rains have always caused landslides, and human activities like illegal quarrying and mining act as the catalyst in such situations, they point out. The incident took place in the Brahmagiri hill range and washed away the road to Nandi Hills.
Former Indian Service officer A N Yellapa Reddy says “Stone quarrying units are functional at 100 locations near Nandi Hills. Rapid urbanisation has already flattened several hills in and around Bengaluru, and Nandi Hills is among the country’s oldest rock beds. Tourism should also be restricted here. Unfortunately, the government does not care,”. He attributed the landslide to ongoing blasts at quarries in the area.
The government’s official stand on this is that heavy rain was the actual cause of the landslide. Nandi, along with its adjoining hills, gives birth to five major rivers in Karnataka – Ponnaiyar, Papagni, Arkavathy, Palar, and Penna.
“Nandi and adjoining hills are a part of the Dharwar Craton, which is one of the earliest pieces of the earth’s crust. Unhindered construction activities in the guise of eco-tourism have also been taking their toll on the hills. They have cut several trees for development work, resulting in soil erosion,” says environmentalist Chidananda Murthy. He explains how operations of the stone crusher units in the area have continued for so long, with no reduction in intensity.
The state government passed an ordinance in 2020, in consonance with which they have extended the license term for stone crushing units from 5 years to 20 years and allowed the transfer of license or sale to the private parties.
According to Anjaneya Reddy, an activist based in Chikkaballapur, explosions being triggered for the sake of quarrying impact the region in severe ways. “Expediting tourism projects without conducting a scientific study on their impact will damage the district. The landslide was a warning. The government needs to step in,” he said. “The dust that emanates from illegal mining is also hazardous to the residents and to agricultural activities,” he points out.
Tazeen Ansari