Thursday, Sep 30, 2004
Thursday, Sep 30, 2004 |
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Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Tamil Nadu
By S. Sundar
MADURAI, SEPT. 29. For more than a year now, V. Jeyaraman has been fighting to save his coconut grove located along the Vaigai from a sand mafia. With revenue and police officials not showing interest to put an end to the illegal activity, Mr. Jeyaraman is now contemplating moving court. Two groups of sand-miners operating from Virahanoor and Puliyankulam are simultaneously, eating away into the western and eastern corners of the three-acre ``2-C'' patta land, on the northern bank of the Vaigai. The mafia, which has reduced the embankment by more than 200 feet, has already felled a handful of coconut trees. The riverbed has been widened by more than 80 feet in certain pockets, after the miners dug the patta land for a depth of nearly 20 feet. ("2-C" patta land is government poromboke land authorised by the Revenue department for individuals to do cultivation on payment of an annual fee.) ``Unabated mining is posing danger to the right main canal maintained by the Public Works Department. In the long-run, it will affect the Virahanoor regulator also,'' an official said. The owner first drew the attention of the district administration to the issue in May last year. In his complaint, Mr. Jeyaraman said the miners had threatened the watchman of the coconut grove with ``dire consequences''. Whenever he raised objection, the watchman was chased away by the stone-throwing mob. Despite the written complaint, the revenue officials did not take any effective step to check the illegal activity. The Silaiman police refused to register a complaint, even as the miners ``trespassed, indulged in theft (of sand), damaged the trees, threatened the watchman with dire consequences and pelted stones''. ``The police instead asked us to approach the revenue officials," he said. After the village administrative officer dug a pit on the approach road, along the right main canal, which connects the Madurai-Ramanathapuram road to the riverbed, the miners were now taking their trucks through the patta land. Even after a second complaint was lodged with the Collector in November last, the unlawful activity has been going on. "I have no alternative except moving the High Court to save the coconut trees that have been brought up by two decades of hard work,'' Mr. Jeyaraman said.
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