Present study is not conducted by experiments; it is based on my own experience and experiment conducted by Sreenivasa and Ravana Reddy R.V under the title Socio-Economic and Environmental 1, and moreover the Ramadeverabetta vulture sanctuary located very close to it, which is the same distance from my study area too, along with my personal observations, interview with distinct levels of questionnaires like, residents, quarry workers and owners, compared with toposheets and satellite images. Comparatively, the study area is evident that has been modified which appears clearly in both tools; it is due to rapid development of quarry and crushing activities. The stones are used in various dimensions and distinct forms for various construction activities by supplying gravels, dust, M-Sand, slabs etc. Nowadays M-Sand is replacing the demand for river sand because of the strict sand policy and prohibition of sand extraction at river beds. Almost all physical environmental factors determine the life and activities of all living organisms on the earth's surface, together with the rocky hill ranges have made beautiful landscapes on the earth's surface, and play an important role in the formation of lithosphere. The elevated rock cliffs check the rain-bearing winds cause sufficient rainfall and provide shelter for wild animals, and grazing land for domestic livestock’s (Images-1). Meanwhile extraction of rocks through quarrying and crushing process, regardless of economic benefits causes pollution and contaminations resulting in health hazards on both flora and fauna. Therefore, everyone should know the fact that "Life is more important than livelihood". So, this research paper tries to investigate the socio-economical importance and impacts on the environment as well as inhabitants around the quarry site. Complete stoppage of this activity is really impossible but there is a need for eco-friendly mining activity and environmental awareness.

Today both quarrying and crushing activities playing a vital role in the construction sector and have similar meaning for outlook but there is a slight difference of both activities.

Quarrying is primarily the mining of nonmetallic rock from shallow or open-pit mines to extract dimension stones like blocks, slabs, pebbles and etc. It is the process of removing rock, sand, gravel or other nonmetallic minerals from the ground in order to use them to produce materials for construction purposes.

Figure 1

Figure 2

The stone crushing is defined as a mill or machine that reduces large rocks into smaller rocks, gravels, M-sand, rock dust etc. Crushing or grinding is used for various purposes.

Recently frequent quarry incidents noticed in newspapers across Karnataka state is increasing day by day with illegal quarrying; deaths occur due to gelatin explosion, sliding, building cracks, overlapping of quarry dust, protesting to close quarry and crushing unit’s etc. For example, Deccan Herald news dated, May 14, 2013 mentioned that the quarry units around Bidadi have witnessed formation of cracks in the walls of houses and temples due to explosions and crops are overlapped by rock dust is badly affecting living organisms and properties, encouraging the people to protest against the activities. In the same way Vijayavani news with the title ‘Do not permit stone quarry activities’ (Image 5).

Comparatively advanced type of stone extraction are unhealthy to environment compared to previous manual methods like use of hammer, chisel, flame burning which were less harmful to life and properties. But use of machines, explosives with chain of processes like drilling, blasting, crushing, transporting is very dusty and noisy which is the advanced method of extraction. This process deteriorates the gorgeous landscapes and causes several harmful effects on surroundings, to a large extent stone crushing process have a worst impact on both natural and built environment of the surroundings. Besides these, the major focused problem is the current study cluster closely located to India’s most endangered vulture species conservation sanctuary. Hence the present research has an enterprise to find consequences and possible suggestions to curtail the effects caused by the stone quarrying and crushing activities in the study area.

The present research subject was structured on the following questions;

Present study area contains both built and natural factors like landscapes, drainage systems, fertile soil, natural vegetation, various fauna and flora species with settlements, agriculture, network of transportation as built environmental factors are undergoing deterioration by stone quarry and crushing activities. People of the surrounding residents and quarry workers of the cluster suffered a lot of issues caused by these activities.

The present study area incorporating several elevated rocky cliffs and rocky hill ranges has been checked the rain-bearing winds and causes sufficient rainfall, providing shelter for distinct wild species, provide grazing land for both domestic and wild animals, etc but the quarrying and crushing activities leads to vanishing of these significant natural gifts.

Basically the subsistence type of agriculture is predominant in the study area but unfortunately the yield and quality of the agricultural crops are very low due to crops permanently overlapping by rock dust and people suffering different diseases due to tremendous noise by the activities.

An attempt has been made to collect data from various secondary and primary sources to complete the above research objectives. The secondary data have been collected from diverse previous literatures like, journals, books, annual reports and websites etc.

Without review of previous literature, construction of research process is very difficult and meaningless. Hence appraisals of various past literature are very essential for good research work because it is the synopsized data postulated by eminent researchers, scholars, authors, present research texts, journals, books, and dissertation work projects in various levels. To construct a noble research work I gathered various information from many international, national and regional level literature reviews.

Following are some objectives I found by reviewing good literature:

Following are some samples of literature reviewed during current research such as;

Sreenivasa and R.V Ravana Reddy (2014)1 , found both positive and negative impacts with the help of survey in the study area and it caused altered socio-economic status of inhabitants, quarry workers, natural and built environment by stone quarry activities particularly within 1/3 km radius. And they suggest paying attention for resolving the issues with eco-friendly measures, because quarrying is economically viable and impossible to completely stop.

Patil. J Swapnil, Supe .N Gajanan, Manatkar.A Pravin and Dr. Satish s. Deshmuk (2020), finds the consequences on groundwater quality and surroundings by quarry dust including both dissolved solids and suspended solids lead to reduce DO and exorbitant values of hardness and composite minerals.

Javed Manzoor and Mahroof Khan (2020) described the consequences of quarrying activities by field work and laboratory experimentation an acute negative results in terms of enormous dust, noise and water pollution, decrees in agricultural productivity, loss of local biodiversity, land degradation, generation of unproductive wastelands, deterioration in water quality, accidents, socio-economic conflicts and adamant health hazards to the people residing around the sites. No efforts are made by the local management of the units, functioning in the areas to minimize negative impacts on the environment and human health. The regulatory measures are urgently required to protect the environment and human health against different types of negative impacts arising from the activities.

Barade V. D, Baviskar S.P, Dhende A.K and Durugwar Y.W (June 2023)2 through environmental impact of stone crusher quarry; A case study of Solapur district, Maharastra observed during the study the large landslides and segregation of the loose soil, this may further lead to increased siltation rate in the catchments of Hipperga Lake.

Naftal M.Moibi (oct 2007), in his research dissertation observed that the activities affect on soil erosion, water siltation, lose of vegetation and animals. They suggest that permission given to extract stones from quarries should be restricted by the government to create awareness among the people about the effects through media and officers. Besides these, governments should try to create more jobs to communities in other sectors which will reduce dependency on quarrying for their livelihood.

Dr. Sandhya P. and Sneha Krishnan (2020)3 with a research article entitled Environmental and Health impact of quarry mining among quarry workers and residents by sample survey. The study reviles that 100 percent out of all residents said that farmlands close to quarries do not support proper crops growth due to permanently overlapping of rock dust on both leaves and surface. The quarry activities should start with ecological and health concerns of the region. Today global concern is health and environment of global community have been established by several international protocols because of the emerging of environmental and health issues through achieving rapid economic development.

Venkataramareddy B.V, Richerdson Lal and Nanjunda Rao K.S (Oct 2009)4 described with an experiment conducted for soil-cement technology that influences bed joint thickness and elastic properties of the soil-cement blocks and the mortar on the strength and behavior of soil-cement block masonry prisms.

Venkataramareddy B.V and Hubli S. R (2002)5 in a research article, Properties of lime-stabilized steam-cured blocks for masonry that mixture of lime, clay and fly ash by steam cured blocks used for masonry construction is more strength as an alternative for use of sand.

Babitha Rani H. and Shadakshara swamy N. (2018) in the Journal of Industrial Pollution Control describe the response of leaves against rock dust is varied due to the level of openings known as stomata. This covers not only the photosynthetic surface but also interferes with the exchange of gasses and reduces the transpiration rate. The respirable particulate matter (RPM) produced by stone crushing process including crushing, screening and loading have become potential pollutants of stomata. Generally, the leaf tissue is in layers with a skin of epidermis layer on top and bottom and photosynthetic cells in between. The stomata are the entrances in the leaf bottom through which CO₂ enters to play its role in Photosynthesis. These openings are protected by a pair of specialized guard cells which open and close to allow gases to enter or leave the leaf.

After evaluating several past literatures I found a clear picture that the majority of literatures’ highlighted various impacts of quarries and related activities. But my present research focuses on landscape deterioration and its impacts on physical and built environmental factors.

The main objective of this study is to analyze the major impacts of stone quarry and crushing process in the study area even though it has economic benefits.

The following table shows the consolidated information about the negative effects of stone quarrying and crushing activities around the Ramadevarabetta vulture sanctuary by a random survey of 100 people.