Tamil Nadu - Tirunelveli   

Sand mining: ``suspend 2 PWD officials''

Staff Reporter

MLA and panchayat chiefs submit petition

TIRUNELVELI: : Demanding an immediate suspension of two officials of the Public Works Department "for facilitating an uncontrolled illegal sand mining on the Nambiyaaru riverbed", the Radhapuram MLA, M. Appavu, and more than 10 panchayat presidents submitted a petition at a grievance day meeting at the Collectorate on Monday.

"If the district administration fails to act on our petition, black flags will be hoisted in all villages in Radhapuram taluk on June 23 when the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, is scheduled to visit Tirunelveli," Mr. Appavu warned after submitting the petition to the Project Officer, District Rural Development Agency, P. Ponniah, who received petitions from the public in the absence of the Collector, Atul Anand.

Mr. Appavu alleged that after the Government decided to start sand mining on the Nambiyaaru riverbed, an influential person from Vijayanarayanam started sand quarrying with the support of the PWD Executive Engineer and the Assistant Engineer. Besides using heavy equipment for sand quarrying, fake passes were being used to transport the illegally mined sand to Kerala, where the `sand mafia' got premium rate for a truckload of sand.

"Based on the complaint I filed with the Collector, the Revenue Divisional Officer, Cheranmahadevi, Anbazhagan, visited the site surprisingly on June 8 and found that all irregularities mentioned in my petition were true. Subsequently, sand mining on the Nambiyaaru riverbed was stopped. However, a group of anti-socials with heavy equipment have camped at mining area for the past few days to resume sand quarrying'', Mr. Appavu said.

In another petition forwarded to the Chief Minister, the MLA said that floodwater being released into Tamiraparani from major irrigation dams during monsoon could be diverted to the rain-shadow regions of Thisayanvilai, Suviseshapuram, Aayankulam Padugai, Aanaikudi Padugai, M.L. Thaeri and Puththantharuvai by digging a floodwater channel from Cheranmahadevi to these areas.

Similarly, the floodwater released in the Pazhaiyaaru during the rainy season could be diverted to Radhapuram region by excavating a channel parallel to the Thovalai channel.

Though estimates for these projects were prepared, no allocation of funds was made so far, he pointed out.

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