BONGAIGAON, June 5 � Local residents in the Salbari area of the district have been affected by cracks which developed on the walls and holes on the roofs of their houses, allegedly due to high-intensity blasts at the nearby Silghagri Hill quarry.
Vibrations caused by the blasts, which were carried out on Wednesday evening at Quarry No. 1, resulted in cracks on the walls and floors of several houses and stones flying out from the quarry hit the corrugated roofs, making holes on them in some houses at Salbari village, which is 300 metres from the quarry and 17 km from Bongaigaon, villagers alleged.
A Forest ranger of the district allegedly took the signatures of the residents of those villages on a blank paper and restarted the quarries eight years ago, which had been closed for the last few years due to public protests, said Balendra Sarkar, 64, a retired school teacher of Salbari village.
�Eight high-intensity blasts, six in a series, were carried out at the quarry (No.1) on Wednesday evening between 4.30 to 5.30 pm left many houses, temples and school buildings partially damaged,� added Samit Nath, a local farmer of Salbari.
�Sharp stone pieces from the blasts pierced through the roof of my house, making holes into it and the vibration on the ground caused cracks on the floor of my house entrance,� said Swapan Kumar Chakravarty, 52, another farmer.
The Sali paddy fields near the quarry have already lost their fertility due to siltation (deposition of small rock pieces on the surface of the farmland) caused by the blasts, said Chakravarty. Cattle also get injured in their legs by the sharp-edged rocks flying out of the blast site, he added.
Villagers also complained that during the blasts at the quarry, rock pieces even fall on the school playground where children play in the evening. �I have already ordered a probe and stopped the blasts at the quarry for the time being,� said Biswajit Pegu, Deputy Commissioner, Bongaigaon.
Two of the three quarries at the Silghagri Hill have been leased out to contractors for seven years for collecting 17,500 cm mettle (rock-pieces), said an official of the District Forest Department.