Environmental activists have slapped a ban on stone quarrying in Jinja district saying the operators have not followed the right procedures.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Jinja district environment officer, Moses Maganda, says the activity poses a great threat to residents in the locality.
He says that owners of Solid State Company Limited, the company carrying out stone quarrying in Butagaya Sub County, were not verified and approved by National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).
This follows numerous complaints by the local residents protesting the bolting which has caused destruction to people’s plants, miscarriages in animals and cracks in people’s houses among others.
The locals led by Butagaya Sub-county NRM chairperson, Moses Batwala, petitioned the environment body claiming that the owner of Solid-State Company Limited threatened to deal with those who complained saying the program was sanctioned by the government.
The company belongs to the former state minister for regional cooperation Isaac Isanga Musumba.
Among the property so far affected by the activity include Lubanyi primary and secondary schools, Medalist Moslem primary school, Hillside College, Lubanyi Technical, and people’s houses and garden worth millions of shillings.
Several houses developed cracks as a result of the loud sound and vibration during bolting and parents fear to send their children to school for fear that the flying stones from the quarry could hit them.
Musumba could not be reached and all the managers and staff of Solid Company were tight lipped about the matter.
