Quarries to come to a grinding halt

VADODARA: Stone crushing quarries across the state will go on a strike from Sunday to protest against the action being taken against quarries for evading royalty after measuring the trenches dug there. The quarry owners are demanding that a policy be devised for deciding the amount of blacktrap stone mined by quarries.
Gujarat Blacktrap Quarry Industries Association held a general body meeting at Godhra on Saturday to press for their demands.Quarries in the four districts of Vadodara, Panchmahal, Kheda and Mahisagar are already on a strike since about a week.
GBQIA president Hitendra Upadhyay said the new notification regarding deciding quantity of blacktrap stone removed by quarries was complicated. “The fines are also exorbitant. Some persons have been slapped fine running into crores of rupees. Even the value of the property where the quarry stands is lower than the fine,” he said.