News
NPC protests over huge Pooneryn limestone project
Permission given to a private cement company to carry out limestone quarrying in more than 4,000 acres of land in Kilinochchi has provoked strong protests by the Northern Provincial Council. The move by the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) is coming under heavy fire with the NPC saying it would lodge a formal protest with the Environment Ministry.
“Our Chief Minister (C.V. Wigneshwaran) will be taking it up with the central government and at the district level as even the local officials had not been consulted about the environmental impact of the project,” Northern Province Environmental Minister Ponnuthurai Ayngaranesan said yesterday. Permission has been granted to carry out the quarrying in Pooneryn and the areas include paddy fields, private lands and state lands.
The Sunday Times learns that some 2,000 acres have already been demarcated for the project with the quarrying due to begin soon. Kilinochchi District Secretary Rupavathi Keethishwaran said her office had not been consulted about the proposed project. “I am aware that GSMB officials had visited the area and carried out tests. I will protest to the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) at a meeting on March 24.”
GSMB Assistant Director Udaya de Silva said a licence had been issued to a cement manufacturing company to quarry limestone. Bureau officials carried out preliminary tests and found there were limestone deposits,” he added. GSMB Director General B.A. Peiris said the bureau was empowered to issue such licences to tap local mineral resources.
However, Environment Ministry Secretary Uthpala Basnayaka said an environmental impact assessment was required to carry out such projects. “We have not given approval for a project of this nature,” he said. Meanwhile, National Buildings Research Organisation officials visited the area on Thursday to carry out soil tests, but met with resistance from the villagers.