A Fight To Breathe Easy
By Anitha S
18 January, 2014
Countercurrents.org
I am Anna. I live with my brother Nandan and our parents in the village of Kalanjoor in Pathanamthitta district, Kerala. On 8th January, all of us went on a journey to Thiruvananthapuram – by all I mean that the entire village was with us. I enjoy such trips because we get to see so many new sights and people. We went to the capital city a few months back too like this. You might be wondering why we keep traveling more than …kms to the capital city so frequently. It is not for pleasure- to visit the Museum, the seashore or see the animals caged in the Zoo that we go there. We, the whole village has been traveling to Trivandrum to talk about our life and demand justice as we are in trouble.
The story of our village which lead to this now disastrous situation started about 25 years back. Our village flanked by the Western Ghats to the East has been a centre for traditional extraction of granite from the rocky hills. In 1995 a Crusher Unit was established which the Residents opposed. Since then, centered around 80 quarries functioning in various parts of the Panchayat, 2 Crusher units started to work. But recently the local traditional workers and the independent quarry units have been swallowed by 3 huge units- the Vajra Sand plant, Pyramid, Darshan and Manaval Crusher units are working day and night, eating into the hills and spoiling our peace of mind and health.
My father who was born and have lived in this village all his life says that it is human greed that has caused such an invasion into Nature. Though I do not quite understand the politics and economics of such huge development schemes, I know one thing for sure based on my life in this Earth for 12 years. I know that me and my friends, my little brother and his friends are not healthy. Nor are our parents. Most of us are sneezing, coughing or unable to breathe on many a day. A friend of mine has fever on most of the days. Why? The crusher units release invisible and visible clouds of dust into the atmosphere. So the air we breathe is richly spiced with finely powdered rock- this has made us sick.
Another issue that makes me really angry is the continuous hum and noise from the Crusher units. Added to this is the occasional explosion from dynamites that tear the mountains and hills apart. I am unable to study as I feel something buzzing in my ears all the time. We have learnt about the permissible decibel levels of sound that human ears can tolerate – in our village all of these norms are forgotten and ignored at the cost of our life. Our village appears like a textbook example of sound and atmospheric pollution.
Added to this is the pollution of water. The Kalliparamala where this activity happens is the source of a stream that flows through to Kallada river. The freshwater used to wash the sand creates waste and dust that enters the stream polluting it forever. This blocks and clogs the life giving water source.
The farmers who live downstream of the Crusher units are angry that the water and soil that flows down has created a situation when agriculture is not possible anymore. The lush green fertile soil of the paddy fields are slowly becoming wastelands. This has also made such land available for the quarry owners.
Are these not enough reasons for all of us to travel to the seat of decision making and appeal for justice and right to a healthy life? We have been denied the right to live in peace and health by this indiscriminate mining and quarrying happening so close to where we live.
We are afraid that the bursting of dynamites and storage of explosives by the Quarry owners so close to our homes will invite disaster. We are scared about the speeding tipper lorries that throng the roads frequently- my mother is anxious till we return from school as the lorries cross our paths so often. We are concerned about the air we breathe, the water we drink and also the soil which should yield food. We worry about the declining water table as we hear that for conversion of rock to sand more than 2.5 lakh litres of water is needed. We are sad to see the Kallipara mala recommended by the Biodiversity Board to be conserved is rapidly disappearing.
These are the reasons why we travelled many times in the past. On Jan 8th we joined the March to Kerala Legislative Assembly along with many people from all over Kerala in support of the Gadgil Committee Report on Western Ghats. I know that this report calls for a new approach to water, air and soil, to mountains and forests, to rivers and lakes that will ensure its conservation for future generations. And the only way to do this is to curtail human greed that causes mountains and rivers to disappear for short term needs and profit. We can perhaps live without M-Sand and marble, but we cannot live without clean water and air. And health. I am afraid that if we continue to live in Kalanjoor , we will forget how it is to breathe easy.
I know that the Gadgil Committee Report calls for a review of all development plans that will cause irreparable damage to the life- support system of Western Ghats. Because if this life line is destroyed all human activities connected to food production, healthy life and livelihood will disappear. These are things that we cannot buy with money – only pristine NATURE can provide all that. So ours is a struggle for life and all the priceless sustaining elements in nature.
Anitha.S in conversation with M.G.Santosh, K.M.Thomas and reading the document “ The People’s Uprising in Kalanjoor ( Pathanamthitta Environment Protection Group) on 8-9 Jan 2014.
Photos: Balachandran,V
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