Kozhikode: Running schools and hospitals, besides tending to the flock’s spiritual needs, is the forte of the Church. But two vicars under the Roman Catholic diocese of Thamarassery in Kozhikode own quarries. Not that these quarries are a lifeline for the faithful to build homes. The ecologically fragile zone in Western Ghats already has around 16 quarries. More, the diocese had to abandon a church and pull down a shrine to facilitate quarrying. The Mukkam police have registered a case for illegal sand mining and seized a JCB, motor pumps and vehicles used for illegal mining from the church land. A report submitted by revenue officials to the Kozhikode collector in July says illegal activities were executed with the connivance of the church administrative body. All these are happening at a time Pope Francis, the high pontiff of the Church, has been on a global campaign with the message of nature conservation.
The Little Flower Church, Pushpagiri in Koodaranji village, and St George Church, Chundathumpoyil in Kumaranalloor village in Kozhikode district, both under the Thamarassery diocese, operated quarries in 1.75 acres and two acres of land respectively. When the mining operations cau-sed a threat to the church at Pushpagiri, suppressing protest from a section of believers, the church decided to hand over the entire property for quarrying and constructed a new church.
The mining permits for both the churches were issued in the name of ‘Fr Vicar.’ The Little Flower Church, Pushpagiri, has remitted an amount of Rs 1,31,870 as a mining fee between 2002 and 2010, according to documents of the department of mining and geology, sourced by DC under the RTI Act.
The licence was renewed 19 times. The St George Church, Chundathumpoyil, has remitted an amount of Rs 79,233 between 2001 and 2011. The licence has been renewed ten times. Both quarries were defunct since 2012 when the church invited the wrath of the police and the forest department for the widespread arson unlea-shed in connection with the anti-‘Gadgil-Kasturi’ agitation. Greens have been raising much hue and cry against the widespread granite mining in the ecologically fragile region.
A DC investigation revealed that the Pushpagiri church has already handed over about 12 acres to a mining lobby and the church authorities had assured them to erase all sacred remnants, including the tombs of forefathers from the land in phases. A believer who preferred anonymity told DC that the move was resisted tooth and nail by a minority within, but silenced by the powerful lobby in the church.
Meanwhile. Catholic Laymen’s Association, the Christian believers’ group, had protested against the move and also criticised the bishop for surrendering the property and faith to the greed of mafia elements endangering the ecology of the region. The organisation in a statement said that at a time when the church wages many battles for putting up crosses and shrines, here the church itself had destroyed a consecrated shrine at the entrance of the church.
The CLA also alleged that the bishop led the quarry mafia elements in the district during the violent agitation against Gadgil-Kasturirangan reports and also unlea-shed a bloody agitation resulting in widespread arson and destruction of forest offices and many officials were injured. The statement also said that the Bishop, who is the owner of all churches, is misusing the church properties for commercial ends.
When asked whether quarrying is a sacramental or humanitarian activity, bishop Remigiose told DC that the church is not involved in any kind of illegal mining activity. At Chundathumpoyil, it is not the church but a person who is undertaking the mining activities. The church has nothing to do with the mining or sand processing. He also said that the land owned by the Pushpagiri church was sold out to the quarrying group as the quarry posed a threat to the church and other nearby institutions.
