With the rains losing its intensity in the State, the state government too has relaxed its rules, allowing all quarrying and mining activities in the state to resume.

The government which issued a blanket but temporary, ban on all activities in Kerala's 895 quarries, including moving of red earth for construction, waited a total of 9 days before finally deciding to lift the ban.

A recent circular issued by K Biju, Director of the Department of Mining and Geology said that the ban has been lifted and that all quarries can resume operations.

"With the intensity of the rainfall and soil dampness reducing and the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority revoking all alerts, the ban on all mining has been lifted," the press release read.

The lifting of the ban comes within two weeks following two massive landslides in Wayanad's Puthumala and Malappuram's Kavalappara that claimed more than 80 lives.

The heavy rains duringthe season this year saw landslides in 31 locations across Kerala, leading to environmental experts partially blaming the state government's loose quarrying rules and unscientific exploitation of the Western Ghats.

Within a span of one week, Kerala witnessed 10 landslides in Wayanad, 23 minor landslides in Palakkad, 11 in Malappuram and 13 in Idukki. A study of the landslides by TV Sajeev, Principal Scientist at the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) found that 25 of the 31 locations where landslides occurred this time lay in ecologically sensitive zones of the state (ESZ) identified by the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) in 2011.

Within the last one year, the State government had givensanction for 129 quarries in the state. Currently, Kerala has 75 licnenced quarries.