News
Mining dries out livelihood
Villagers living in the Tharana area in Madampe are up in arms against the illegal mining of silica soil They charge that the ground water levels in the area have depleted since the digging began and is affecting their cashew nut plantations.
 Illegal: Villagers protest against the silica soil mining |
 Drought: Dry soil due to lack of ground water |
 Destructive: Heavy machinery is used for digging up the soil |
Mining in the area begun in 2010 but after complaints to the Central Environment Authority the work was temporarily halted but it was recently resumed after an individual claimed he had obtained a permit for this purpose.
Ven Vadigamangawe Indraratna Thera, the chief incumbent of the Madampe Sri Dharmarama Temple said that the digging is carried out using heavy machinery with holes as deep as 30 feet.
“The cashew nut plantations in the area which provide livelihood to around 1500 villagers are being affected by this as many springs in the area are drying up, “he said.
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