Quarries in Kavrepalanchok asked to be shut down

The district administration office here has decided to close all quarries in the district.

The report published 10 days ago by the committee formed to monitor the extraction, collection and sale of riverbed materials under the district coordination committee reported some of the quarries in the district to be operating in violation of the set standards.

Following this, the district disaster management committee on Friday took a decision to close all quarries in the district from today. The decision came following the direction of the Home Ministry some days ago to close all quarries that are operating illegally, said Chief District Officer Humkala Pandey.

The rampant extraction of riverbed materials has caused disasters, according to the report.

Crusher and quarry entrepreneurs have been asked to submit their company registration and renewal documents, she said. “We have decided to shut all quarries operating illegally as per the direction by the ministry. We have asked the related entrepreneurs to submit their company registration and renewal documents. Those which have met the set standards will gradually operate,” she said.

Forty eight quarries have been operating at nine local levels out of the total 13 in the district. Of them, 29 are found to have been operating illegally, said the monitoring committee.

The Committee’s nine-member taskforce under the leadership of the district coordination officer Shanti Raj Prasain on Wednesday submitted the report to the district coordination committee chief Dipak Kumar Gautam.