20 arrested for illegal excavations which would have posed danger to Samanala dam

By Ifham Nizam

Twenty persons were arrested last week for illegally excavating calcite deposits at Pallebedda Koswetiya Kanda as their action could pose a danger even to the Samanalawewa dam by triggering massive earth tremors.

The properties of calcite make it one of the most widely used minerals. It is used as a construction material, abrasive, agricultural soil treatment, construction aggregate, pigment, pharmaceutical and more. It has more uses than almost any other mineral. Calcite is in the form of oolitic limestone.

According to the report of the Expert Committee appointed on the instructions of Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera to look into the possibility of tremors caused by such excavations, found that some deep underground excavations using explosives in the Balangoda area could cause earthquake-type destruction.

The Geological Survey and Mines Bureau took steps to conduct a special operation to investigate such excavations in the Balangoda area. Officers of the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau as well as the Police Special Task Force were recently able to arrest all those who were illegally excavating the calcite deposit at Pallebedda, Koswetiya Kanda, which could have caused massive destruction.

The area dug up was about 150 meters wide and 80 meters deep, and at the time of the raid, about 20 people were loading dump trucks and tractors with calcite extracted from one huge hole.

The digging operation was powered by a generator, and a large stockpile of high explosives was found near the generator, which could have easily flattened the entire mountain with a huge explosion if any of it had got ignited.

GSMB Chairman Anura Walpola said that the raiding team had confirmed that it could have caused a major calamity and caused damage to the Samanalawewa dam.

He reported the matter to Minister Amaraweera of the raid on Friday.

He said that although there had been no explosion, there was a risk of the mountain collapsing due to the nature of the excavations in the interior of the mountain. He pointed out that the pressure created by the collapse of such a massive mountain could inevitably lead to an earthquake-type situation.

An earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale has been reported in Germany after similar excavations.

However, the person who obtained the mining licence did not carry out the excavations at the place where he was permitted to dig up. Therefore, the Minister instructed the GSMB Chairman to take steps to revoke his licence and to conduct a comprehensive investigation to identify all such places in and around Balangoda.