Can Tamil Nadu Survive the Environmental Toll of Illegal Quarries?
Once used solely for laying the foundation for buildings and roadworks, quarry stone aggregates have become a major raw material in the construction industry in Tamil Nadu since 2018, when river sand mining was either completely shut down in some areas or severely restricted in others following environmental protests and subsequent judicial interventions. Today, M-sand and P-sand, both byproducts of stone quarrying, have become the mainstay of construction activities.
However, with roughly 5,000 legal and illegal quarries operating in Tamil Nadu today, stone quarrying has emerged as a hazardous activity as environmental impact assessment (EIA) guidelines are more often breached than observed.
The first hazard is air and noise pollution. The extensive use of explosives to drill holes, often in violation of the Explosives Acts, causes intense noise and strong tremors that can be felt up to a distance of 2 kilometres. Toxic sulphur fumes spread over 500 metres and severely pollute the air.
This is further aggravated when quarries operate beyond the time permitted by the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act. Heavy plumes of dust engulf the neighbourhood throughout the day from continuous explosions, stone crushing, transportation of raw materials in open dumper and tipper lorries, failure to spray water on roads afterwards, and failure to create green belts as per the government’s Environmental Management Plan. Continuous inhalation of quarry dust and blast smoke leads to respiratory diseases among people working and living near quarries resulting in conditions such as asthma, allergies, sinusitis, and lung infections.
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Revenue department records show that many hills and catchment areas have been destroyed for quarrying, taking a heavy toll on agriculture. Since quarries are dug deeper than open wells, the surrounding wells dry up. The dust from blasting and uncovered transportation also settles on farming land, affecting pollination and crop yields, rendering fertile lands unproductive.
Even livestock get affected. Goats and cows ingest dust-covered fodder crops, which harms their health. In the absence of a holistic study to assess the negative impact of quarrying on agriculture, the heavy losses incurred by farmers are often overlooked.
Quarries must use explosives at 28-second intervals with proper sandbags and tarps and adopt prescribed methods to contain shock waves and flying debris, as per the Mining Rules. However, illegal quarry operators ignore these safeguards. Many houses surrounding the quarries have developed cracks and suffered structural damage due to tremors. In Radhapuram Taluk, Tirunelveli, a quarry blast resulted in the collapse of a house, killing its residents. In 2024, in Edappalayam village, Tiruvannamalai district, a farmer named Arumugam was killed by flying rock debris after an explosion at a nearby quarry.
Women and children protesting against the pollution caused by stone quarries and the tipper lorries transporting gravel in Thandarai panchayat at Denkanikottai in Krishnagiri district, on November 14, 2022.
| Photo Credit:
N. Bashkaran
High-intensity explosions can also affect the nesting and reproduction patterns of birds and other animals, say veterinarians. Small species living in shrubs and deciduous vegetation flee the disturbed habitat. Reptiles and other small species are in danger of being wiped out.
Illegal quarries do not follow the step-cutting method but extract stones vertically, causing landslides in many places. Due to continuous environmental assaults from deep quarrying, ISRO has identified 147 landslide-prone locations in India. Of these, six districts fall in Tamil Nadu: Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Dindigul, Theni, Tenkasi, and Tirunelveli—all along the Western Ghats.
Environmental laws mandate that toxic water from blast sites such as quarries must be treated before it is discharged or reused. However, this is routinely flouted: quarries often release untreated toxic water into surrounding areas, causing serious health problems. This contaminated water is also used in the production of M-sand, resulting in poor-quality building material.
To make matters worse, a contradictory regulatory framework has added to the confusion. While mining plans (a document submitted to the appropriate authorities to get a licence for mining) prescribe that abandoned quarries be repurposed as water reservoirs, a State government order (GO 23/2022) designates them as sites for solid waste landfill.
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This contradiction is especially evident in Tiruppur’s Kaalampalayam region, where numerous abandoned quarries have been indiscriminately filled with unsegregated waste—including municipal and medical refuse and, sometimes, even waste brought in from other States and countries—with no oversight whatsoever. As a result, groundwater in open wells and borewells within a 5 kilometre radius of the site is heavily contaminated.
There is no fencing around abandoned quarries either, as mandated by law. In the past four years, over 400 people and hundreds of animals are reported to have died after falling into these abandoned quarries.
The socio-economic fallout is equally troubling. Quarry operators maintain control by dividing villagers along caste lines and sponsoring temple festivals to assert influence. As fear and mistrust spread within communities, many have been forced to abandon their homes and migrate to towns.
Ideally, given the massive environmental damage caused by quarries, the Tamil Nadu government should import at least 1.5 million metric tons of natural river sand as a permanent alternative. Many countries are willing to sell river sand and this might be the best option.
R.S.A. Mughilan is an anti-mining activist and coordinator of the Tamil Nadu Environmental Protection Movement.
Translated by Ilangovan Rajasekaran from the Tamil.
Once used solely for laying the foundation for buildings and roadworks, quarry stone aggregates have become a major raw material in the construction industry in Tamil Nadu since 2018, when river sand mining was either completely shut down in some areas or severely restricted in others following environmental protests and subsequent judicial interventions. Today, M-sand and P-sand, both byproducts of stone quarrying, have become the mainstay of construction activities.
However, with roughly 5,000 legal and illegal quarries operating in Tamil Nadu today, stone quarrying has emerged as a hazardous activity as environmental impact assessment (EIA) guidelines are more often breached than observed.
The first hazard is air and noise pollution. The extensive use of explosives to drill holes, often in violation of the Explosives Acts, causes intense noise and strong tremors that can be felt up to a distance of 2 kilometres. Toxic sulphur fumes spread over 500 metres and severely pollute the air.
This is further aggravated when quarries operate beyond the time permitted by the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act. Heavy plumes of dust engulf the neighbourhood throughout the day from continuous explosions, stone crushing, transportation of raw materials in open dumper and tipper lorries, failure to spray water on roads afterwards, and failure to create green belts as per the government’s Environmental Management Plan. Continuous inhalation of quarry dust and blast smoke leads to respiratory diseases among people working and living near quarries resulting in conditions such as asthma, allergies, sinusitis, and lung infections.
Also Read | Courting controversy
Revenue department records show that many hills and catchment areas have been destroyed for quarrying, taking a heavy toll on agriculture. Since quarries are dug deeper than open wells, the surrounding wells dry up. The dust from blasting and uncovered transportation also settles on farming land, affecting pollination and crop yields, rendering fertile lands unproductive.
Even livestock get affected. Goats and cows ingest dust-covered fodder crops, which harms their health. In the absence of a holistic study to assess the negative impact of quarrying on agriculture, the heavy losses incurred by farmers are often overlooked.
Quarries must use explosives at 28-second intervals with proper sandbags and tarps and adopt prescribed methods to contain shock waves and flying debris, as per the Mining Rules. However, illegal quarry operators ignore these safeguards. Many houses surrounding the quarries have developed cracks and suffered structural damage due to tremors. In Radhapuram Taluk, Tirunelveli, a quarry blast resulted in the collapse of a house, killing its residents. In 2024, in Edappalayam village, Tiruvannamalai district, a farmer named Arumugam was killed by flying rock debris after an explosion at a nearby quarry.
Women and children protesting against the pollution caused by stone quarries and the tipper lorries transporting gravel in Thandarai panchayat at Denkanikottai in Krishnagiri district, on November 14, 2022.
| Photo Credit:
N. Bashkaran
High-intensity explosions can also affect the nesting and reproduction patterns of birds and other animals, say veterinarians. Small species living in shrubs and deciduous vegetation flee the disturbed habitat. Reptiles and other small species are in danger of being wiped out.
Illegal quarries do not follow the step-cutting method but extract stones vertically, causing landslides in many places. Due to continuous environmental assaults from deep quarrying, ISRO has identified 147 landslide-prone locations in India. Of these, six districts fall in Tamil Nadu: Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Dindigul, Theni, Tenkasi, and Tirunelveli—all along the Western Ghats.
Environmental laws mandate that toxic water from blast sites such as quarries must be treated before it is discharged or reused. However, this is routinely flouted: quarries often release untreated toxic water into surrounding areas, causing serious health problems. This contaminated water is also used in the production of M-sand, resulting in poor-quality building material.
To make matters worse, a contradictory regulatory framework has added to the confusion. While mining plans (a document submitted to the appropriate authorities to get a licence for mining) prescribe that abandoned quarries be repurposed as water reservoirs, a State government order (GO 23/2022) designates them as sites for solid waste landfill.
Also Read | Anatomy of a loot
This contradiction is especially evident in Tiruppur’s Kaalampalayam region, where numerous abandoned quarries have been indiscriminately filled with unsegregated waste—including municipal and medical refuse and, sometimes, even waste brought in from other States and countries—with no oversight whatsoever. As a result, groundwater in open wells and borewells within a 5 kilometre radius of the site is heavily contaminated.
There is no fencing around abandoned quarries either, as mandated by law. In the past four years, over 400 people and hundreds of animals are reported to have died after falling into these abandoned quarries.
The socio-economic fallout is equally troubling. Quarry operators maintain control by dividing villagers along caste lines and sponsoring temple festivals to assert influence. As fear and mistrust spread within communities, many have been forced to abandon their homes and migrate to towns.
Ideally, given the massive environmental damage caused by quarries, the Tamil Nadu government should import at least 1.5 million metric tons of natural river sand as a permanent alternative. Many countries are willing to sell river sand and this might be the best option.
R.S.A. Mughilan is an anti-mining activist and coordinator of the Tamil Nadu Environmental Protection Movement.
Translated by Ilangovan Rajasekaran from the Tamil.
