VELLORE:Evidence that the sand-mafias are hand-in-glove with corrupt officials at the highest levels and continue to not only brazenly exploit unauthorised areas of the Palar Riverbed but also do so in complete disregard to the safety and welfare of the workers they employ for their illegal mining activities came to light with the death of a 35 year-old woman worker and two others sustaining injuries in a “non-permitted” quarry site.
According to guidelines laid down by the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), no quarry activities should be carried out beyond permitted sites and not to mine sand on government holidays. Both these guidelines were flagrantly violated.
“The accident happened on Saturday, which is a government holiday. Besides Gudimallur (where the sand-mining is taking place and where the accident occurred) is about half a kilometre from the approved quarrying site - survey number 835 (P) of Vannivedu village in Upper Palar Basin in Walajapet Taluk,” member of Palar Pathukappu Kuzhlu, Rathinam told Express.
“The sand contractors are indiscriminately mining sand from the riverbed in non-permitted mining sites. Illegal sand-mining is being done beyond Vannivedu with higher officials being hand-in-glove with sand contractors,” said a Revenue Department official in Ranipet on condition of anonymity.
PWD department officials are failing to check these illegal activities.
The Palar Pathukappu Kuzhlu Committee filed a complaint with the Walajapet Police Station demanding action against the Executive Engineer of Water Resource Organisation (Upper Palar Basin), P Anbarasu, Assistant Executive Engineer, Ganeshan and Loading Lifting Contractor, Karuppaiah for violating government rules. “We filed the complaint on Saturday. But till now, the police have not even entered it into the CSR after the complaint. They are trying to manipulate the evidence to protect the sand contractors and corrupt officials,” said Rathinam.
Despite the accident occurring in the Palar Riverbed in Gudimallur, Walajapet Police, by manipulating facts, have filed a case stating that the accident occurred in a sand-yard. Senior officials in the Revenue and Police departments are protecting the sand contractors, said sources in the district administration. Investigation Officer of the case and Sub-Inspector of Walajapet Station J A Dominic told Express that the accident occurred at about 10.10 am on Saturday when K Sivakami of Vadamanpakkam Colony in Tiruvannamalai and several others were engaged working in the sand-yard in Gudimallur. While Sivakami was buried alive when the sand caved in, two others — Prakasam(38) and Ayyppan — sustained injuries.
Collector R Nanthagopal, along with PWD officials and the RDO of Ranipet, M Priyadharshini, had inspected the Vannivedu government quarry on Friday. “We told the Collector that the sand contractors are illegally mining sand beyond the permitted site. But he failed to pay heed to our complaints,” said Rathinam.
Collector R Nanthagopal responding to Saturday’s accident, initially said the accident happened in the PWD yard. However, after verifying the facts, he corrected his version and confirmed that the accident occurred in Gudimallur where a group of people are indulging in illegal sand mining. “I have asked the RDO of Ranipet (M Priyadharshini) to conduct an inquiry of the incident,” said the Collector.
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