Threatened by heavy dust pollution caused by the several stone crushers and an unresponsive administration, residents of Neelbud village in the State capital have threatened to start agitation from the next month.

Sarpanch of Neelbud village Vijay Singh Maran, who is also associated with the Neelbud Jan Sewa Andolan Manch said here on Monday that the village residents have been requesting the administration to take steps for halting the operations of the stone crushers in the locality as they have become a health menace, especially for the children and the elderly.

“We will stage a peaceful dharna at the Neelbud square on February 20. Memorandums will be submitted to the local legislator and state’s Minerals Minister. If there is still no response from the government a month-long agitation will initiate in March. Subsequently, if the government still remains unresponsive, the agitation may take extreme forms in April,” Maran said while interacting with the media.

“We have been running from pillar to post for last four years from one department to the other, but to no avail. Apart from the health hazard, stone blasting by the crushers are leading to cracks in our houses. A major incident can happen at any time here,” he said.

Maran has also accused the stone crusher owners of trying to bribe him to stop organizing the villagers against their activities. He further said that the local people are deeply enraged by the stone crushing activities. “The anger in people here is running high and if any violent incident takes place, the government shall be responsible for the same,” Maran warned.

Manch secretary Prakash Kumar pointed out that the uncontrolled excavations of stone by the crushers have negative impact on the local ecology. Further, due to overloading by the heavy trucks, the roads in the area are also in bad shape, he added.