The Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd (KMML) has restarted the removal and transportation of mineral-rich sand from Thottappally. The activities were resumed following a Kerala High Court order on Friday.
On June 17, the High Court passed an interim order directing the KMML to comply with the stop memo issued by the Purakkad grama panchayat.
Following this, the removal of sand from Thottappally pozhi and its transportation to KMML’s unit at Chavara had come to a halt. However, the court on Friday lifted the ban after the State government informed it that the local body had withdrawn the stop memo.
V. Sasikanthan, vice president, Purakkad grama panchayat, however, said that the local body had not withdrawn the stop memo issued to the KMML.
The government has misled the court, he said.
Meanwhile, the local residents have vowed to ramp up protests against the sand mining.
Last month, as per a State government decision, around 550 trees on a plot in the possession of the Irrigation Department close to the Thottappally pozhi had been cut down by invoking various sections under the Disaster Management Act.
According to the government, the trees were chopped to widen and deepen the mouth of the pozhi to ensure the smooth flow of water from Kuttanad through the Thottappally spillway to sea.
The government further allowed the KMML to remove sand from the pozhi and from the place where the trees stood.
