Tamil Nadu - Tirunelveli   

`Sand-smuggling rampant'

Staff Reporter

`Govt. norms say sand quarried in Tamil Nadu should be used only inside the State'

TIRUNELVELI: : The Radhapuram MLA, M. Appavu, has said he would conduct a massive protest in front of the check-posts at Shencottah in Tirunelveli district and Kaliyakaavilai in Kanyakumari district "since the officials manning these two points were taking hefty bribes to allow sand to be smuggled to neighbouring Kerala."

In a letter to the Chief Minister, Jayalalaithaa, a copy of which was released to the press here, Mr. Appavu said more than 80 per cent of the sand being mined in Tirunelveli and Tuticorin districts were being smuggled to Kerala though the government norms clearly stipulated that the sand quarried in Tamil Nadu should be used only inside the State.

Even though the check-posts of police, transport, commercial taxes and other departments were functioning at Shencottah and Kaliyakkavilai, a minimum of 1,000 truck-loads of sand was smuggled to Kerala everyday, which was the testimony for the inertness of the district and State administration, Mr. Appavu said.

As there was a widespread fear among the residents of Tirunelveli and Tuticorin districts that their districts would become a desert if the rampant sand mining was allowed anymore, the government should act immediately to avert the impending danger.

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