Villagers Turn Sand Mafia Bribe into Aid Fund

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 19th March 2015 06:03 AM

Last Updated: 19th March 2015

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  File photo of residents of Kalathur villager staging a protest demanding action against the sand mafia and their supporters

VELLORE: Residents of Kalathur, who are opposing  sand mining in the area, have decided to donate the bribe of Rs 2.18 lakh received by some villagers from a contractor to quell the protests, to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. They decided to return the amount on Wednesday.

The district administration is planning to open sand quarries near Kalathur, comprising about 300 families, ignoring  protests by the villagers. The contractor paid bribes totaling Rs 2.18 lakh to several prominent villagers and other residents.

“They gave Rs 50,000 each to four women members of Self Help Groups, Rs 20,000 to each of the seven ward members and Rs 1,000 to around 30 people in the village,” said 50-year-old Rosie of the village.

However, with saner minds prevailing in the village, these families were ostracised for failing to take the larger interests of the hamlet into account.

Realising their mistake and wary of the simmering anger of the rest of the villagers, those who had accepted the bribes tendered an apology to the village and have either returned the bribe money or have promised to surrender the amount in a few days. (Total amount of bribe money collected was Rs 3.40 lakh)

 “We decided to return the bribe to the contractor Karikalan, who was backed by corrupt officials and police officers,” said a 45-year-old man, who received Rs 10,000 from the contractor.

However, when Karikalan refused to take the money back, the villagers decided to go to the district headquarters, 60 km from Kalathur, to hand the money over to the administration.

Police, together with PWD and revenue department officials, who the villagers claimed were hand in glove with the sand mafia, prevented them from proceeding beyond the Walajapet toll plaza.

Members of Makkal Mandram, an NGO,  and villagers of Kalathur met DRO K Manivannan at the Collectorate recently to hand over the money. But Manivannan refused and instead suggested that they send the amount to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

Following this, the villagers decided to send the bribe amount in the form of a demand draft to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

The villagers claimed that such bribes are not uncommon in the area. “Contractors have bribed the villagers of Sankaranpadi in the presence of the Collector,” they alleged. 

“The police, PWD and revenue department officials are hand in glove with the sand mafia. Corrupt officials are supporting the greedy contractors and trying to silence our strong protest,” said a post-graduate student in the village.

Far from being intimidated by the collective voice and the protests against sand mining in the area, the Kaveripakkam and Avalur police, the villagers claimed, have registered four cases under sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapons), 294 (b) (abusing), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his/her duty), 506 (i) (criminal intimidation), 506 (ii) (threatening with deadly weapons) read with 4 of Women Harassment Act against the villagers, most of them college  students, youngsters and women, for protesting against mining of sand.