Chennai: Tamil Nadu govt has imposed a three-month ban, with immediate effect, on the transportation of rough stone and its aggregates, including M-sand, metal jelly and other construction material, to the neighbouring states. The ban, however, exempts consignments to Puducherry, including Karaikal.This could adversely affect neighbouring states such as Kerala and Karnataka that are reliant on M-sand from Tamil Nadu.The order, issued by director of geology and mining T Prabhushankar, came hours after chief minister C Joseph Vijay held a review meeting with the minister and other top officials of the mining department in the morning.District collectors and superintendents of police in border districts have been directed to maintain strict vigil, coordinate with officials of departments regulating the transportation of minerals and other goods, and sensitise the public to ensure compliance with the temporary ban. Officials of all departments concerned have also been instructed to strictly enforce the order, which has come into force with immediate effect.Any violation of the ban will attract stringent action under the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transportation and Storage of Minerals and Minerals Dealers Rules, 2011, and other applicable laws, the order warned.Govt said Tamil Nadu was witnessing rapid urbanisation and infrastructure development, resulting in growing demand for construction material such as rough stone and aggregates. “The economically exploitable rough stone deposits in Tamil Nadu are available only in a limited number of districts, and significant portions of such mineral-bearing areas in districts such as Kanyakumari, Tenkasi, Theni, Coimbatore, Tiruppur and Krishnagiri are situated in eco-sensitive zones of the Western Ghats region,” the order said.While production from operational quarries within Tamil Nadu is insufficient to meet the increasing domestic demand arising from infrastructure, housing and industrial development, the large-scale transportation of construction aggregates to neighbouring states has further constrained the availability of material within Tamil Nadu, creating an artificial supply-demand imbalance and pushing up prices. This, govt said, has affected both public and private infrastructure projects across the state.The order said rough stone is not a scarce mineral in neighbouring states such as Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. It also said the widening gap between supply and demand has fuelled unscientific and illegal quarrying, storage and transportation of stone and aggregates, often resulting in mining beyond permitted depths and posing a serious threat to the state’s environment and ecology.Noting that large quantities of rough stone and aggregates are being transported to the neighbouring states, the order said the continuous movement of heavily loaded trucks, including multi-axle vehicles, had severely damaged local roads, particularly those leading to interstate border checkposts.As many of these roads are narrow and not designed to handle relentless heavy freight traffic, the movement of trucks has caused traffic bottlenecks for local commuters and contributed to an increase in road accidents, including fatal ones.The ban covers the interstate transportation of rough stone, including khandas, boulders, size-reduced material such as broken or crushed stones, M-sand, metal jelly, ballast, millstones, hand chakkis, building stones and road construction stones.Govt has invoked a newly inserted Rule 3(A) of the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transportation and Storage of Minerals and Minerals Dealers Rules, 2011 to crack down on rampant mining and unfettered transportation of rough stone and its aggregates to other states.
