The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Court halts sand mining in Tiruvallur lake

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Thursday, Mar 22, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Court halts sand mining in Tiruvallur lake

Special Correspondent

Official deputed for on-the-spot study

CHENNAI : The Madras High Court has stayed mining of silt and sand in a lake in Thirukandalam in Tiruvallur district, and deputed an advocate-commissioner to visit the village and make a spot study. The First Bench comprising Chief Justice A.P. Shah and Justice K. Chandru also directed the Tiruvallur District Collector and the Superintendent of Police to be personally present at Thirukandalam when the advocate-commissioner, K. Kannan, inspects the lake.

The interim order was passed on a public interest litigation petition stating that the largest lake in the district was being desilted and mined beyond stipulated norms. Though the Collector had permitted contractors to desilt only up to eight feet from the topsoil over an area of 150 square metres, the contractors had mined large tracts of sub-soil indiscriminately. They employed excavating machines and transported scores of truckloads of sand, the petition contended.

When villagers protested the violation and staged a dharna, 33 of them were arrested on false charges, the petition said. The indiscriminate mining would affect the water table in the lake endangering drinking water as well as agricultural needs in the region, it said.

The petitioners sought an interim injunction restraining the respondents from mining silt and sand any further, besides appointment of an advocate-commissioner to study the violations committed by the contractors.

Mr. Kannan will verify whether desilting was being carried out in violation of the permission granted by the department concerned and whether such desilting works had resulted in the depletion of subsoil water deposits. The report will be submitted within a week.

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