Seven villagers in Yan, Kedah, filed for an interim injunction from the Alor Setar High Court yesterday to stop the quarrying works in Gunung Jerai.

In their affidavit, the plaintiffs said the quarrying project, located in Compartment 16 of the forest reserve, contravened federal, state, and local laws and had adversely affected their livelihood.

The Kedah state government, the Yan district council, the director-general of the Department of Environment (DOS), and the director of the state Land and Mining Office, which had granted various approvals since 2001 for the quarrying project, were named as defendants.

The quarrying operator, Kemelong and Sankojaya Construction Sdn, and quarrying contractor KS Chin Minerals Sdn Bhd, were named as the fifth and sixth defendants, respectively.

According to the villagers, the 40.49-hectare site had wrongfully been de-gazetted by the state authorities as a forest reserve, while the quarrying project contravened the Yan District Structure Plan for the years 1995 - 2020 which set aside the area as a forest reserve.

The structure plan prohibits development that would affect the stability and quality of the area's environment, while any development for purposes of eco-tourism have to ensure the preservation of its natural environment, eco-system, and water catchment areas.

The DOS had wrongfully issued an Environmental Impact Assessment report to the quarrying project, while the land and mining director had wrongfully issued a 30-year lease of the site to the quarrying operator, claimed the villagers.

Other legislation that had been allegedly breached were the Town and Country Planning Act 1976, the National Land Code, the National Forestry Act, and/or the Environmental Quality Act of 1974 pertaining to development works.

Death threats, bribery allegations

The villagers also applied for an interim injunction for the quarry operator and contractor to "be restrained from carrying on the business of quarrying" pending the outcome of the application for the originating summons.

The villagers claimed that the quarrying operations, including the blasting works, affected their water supply and farming activities, the environment, and destroyed their property.

Residents in the district had long objected to the project as they believed it had caused, among other things, unprecedented flooding in the surrounding villages two years ago.

The villagers also want the court to order Kemelong and Sankojaya Construction Sdn Bhd and quarrying contractor KS Chin Minerals Sdn Bhd to compensate for damages that had allegedly occurred as a result of the project.

These include damages to the water supply that the villagers derive from the various rivers and streams in the forest reserve, and the sedimentation and soil erosion that had resulted from the quarrying project.

The villagers also want the quarrying operator and contractor to bear the costs of rehabilitating the environment of and surrounding Compartment 16 and returning it, as far as possible, to the conditions before the quarrying project began.

The court was also told of the alleged mala fides (bad intention) on the part of a director of Kemelong and Sankojaya Construction, Husaini Yaacob, against two of the plaintiffs to pressure them to call off their suit.

Husaini had allegedly gone on June 6, 2006, to the houses of Musa Hussin and Amiruddin Ramli and forced them on separate occasions to sign documents which they were not given an opportunity to read.

The villagers also claimed that Husaini had pressured them to make police reports to declare they were calling off their suit. The next day, however, the two plaintiffs filed a police report detailing the incident of the previous evening.

"We have been advised by our lawyers and we believe that Husaini's actions breached the laws," they said in their affidavit.

When contacted, the villagers' lawyer, Karina Yong, said the Yan district council's representative told the court yesterday that the council had on March 8, 2006 issued a stop-work order.

The state government's legal advisor, she added, said the state executive council had decided to close the quarry and seek an out of court settlement with the parties concerned.

The villagers, however, had not informed of any such developments, said Yong.

"At this point our main focus will be the main application pertaining to the originating summons," she added.

The court set Aug 30 for case mention.

Since the quarrying project began in 2002, it has been beset by problems and controversies, among them allegations that three activists had been threatened and bribed to desist from their activities.