Mining Scam in the Making

Mining Scam in the Making, This Time by Vellore Quarries

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 09th November 2015

VELLORE:  Villagers in the vicinity of the three authorised stone quarries operating in Perumugai for over 20 years now, allege that tonnes of gravel and red sand are being dug up and smuggled out from the hills here under the guise of transporting granite stones.

This plundering of natural resources has been going on for several years, they claimed and demanded a thorough probe by a high-level committee. As per rules, permission has to be obtained from the Mines Department to take gravel from the site of a stone quarry and if permitted, quarry operators may have to make a payment for the same.

“Gravel and red sand are in high demand for road-laying works and construction purposes. Quarry contractors illegally smuggle the gravel on the pretext of transporting granite from the sites,” said a retired government staffer in the village, adding that more than 50 loads of gravel and red sand were being smuggled out of the village everyday.

According to him, one unit of gravel mixed with red sand is being sold for Rs 1,200. Six-wheeler trucks carry six units of this mineral in a single trip, while 12-wheeler lorries carry up to 10 units. “Gravel dug up from the hills is being used for road work on NH 46. The person who took the tenders to run the quarries paid around Rs 1.50 crore to the panchayat in the last 15 years. This caused a loss of not less than Rs 1,000 crore during the period, to the State exchequer. A detailed probe will definitely unearth a mining scam similar to the one in Madurai,” said a source in the village panchayat.

Villagers alleged panchayat representatives and politicians were directly involved in the illegal activity.   Though officials are aware of the illegal quarrying of the natural resource, they continue to remain mute spectators. Quarry contractors, backed by politicians, have even issued death threats to anyone raising the issue.

Despite this, the villagers claimed they have submitted at least 40 petitions to the District Collector, the Chief Minister’s Cell and other officials, seeking to restrain the smuggling.

However, no action has been taken so far.

Moreover, the narrow panchayat road being used as a thoroughfare to reach NH 46 by heavy vehicles transporting minerals from the stone quarries, is also being used by students of the Government Higher Secondary School which is accessible through the road. “It is risky for our students to walk along the road as heavy vehicles ply throughout the day. These vehicles are driven in a rash manner. We have taken up this issue with the senior officials of the Education Department, but no action has been taken to restrict the movement of the heavy vehicles,” said a teacher of the school.

District Collector R Nanthagopal gave an assurance that he would direct authorities to look into the issue.

Mungileri Anxious as Kasthuri Set to Reach Chennai Today

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 07th November 2015 

VELLORE: After undergoing a horrifying experience at Saudi Arabia for over four months, 55-year-old Kasthuri Munirathinam, a native of Mungileri village in Vellore district, is returning home on Saturday. She is returning with a permanent disability, allegedly due to an inhuman act of her employer in Riyadh.

                                                                                        

Kasthuri Munirathinam, the Indian maid whose hand was chopped off by her Saudi Arabian employer last month arrives at Chennai airport on Saturday | Express Photo- Martin Louis

Kasthuri’s employer allegedly chopped off her right arm when she tried to flee from the house in Riyadh in the first week of October. She was admitted to the Kingdom Hospital there.

Officials at the Indian Embassy in Riyadh and Secretariat (Tamil Nadu) informed the family members of Kasthuri that she would reach Chennai by 10.30 am on Saturday. From there, she would be shifted to the Government Hospital in Chennai for a medical checkup.

“I received a call from the Indian Embassy (Riyadh) that my mother will reach Chennai on Saturday morning. Later, Tamil Nadu government officials said that they had arranged a vehicle to shift my mother to the government hospital,” said Kasthuri’s son M Mohan.

Against the wishes of her family members, Kasthuri had gone to Saudi Arabia on July 28 to work as a house maid for a monthly salary of about Rs 23,000 to bail her family out of debt.

anxious relatives of Kasthuri

She took the decision to do so after selling her house for Rs 12 lakh to settle a the debt partially.  “We constructed the house in 2012. Unable to repay the loan, we sold it. Now, we are living in it as a tenant for monthly rent of Rs 1,500. This is our condition now,” said Mohan, adding that they were not in a position to give good medical care to their mother                     .

Kasthuri’s neighbour and friend Rani (45) said that she and many of their neighbours had gone to the main road, which was nearly 2 km from the village, to see their neighbour off to Dubai. They had never imagined then that such a cruel thing could happen to her.

Though Kasthuri’s long-time neighbour Krishnaveni and several others were eagerly waiting for her return. Her husband Munirathinam and son Mohan had tried to dissuade her from returning to India. They tried to persuade her to stay in Saudi until she felt better and was able to walk on her own.

“My mother has been scarred for life. She is desperate to return,” said Kasthuri’s oldest daughter Vanaja, fighting tears. She added that her mother has been supporting her family with her little earning as a farm hand. She appealed to the government to extend medical care to her mother for the rest of her life.

Boys Made to Brew Arrack in TN

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 06th November 2015 

VELLORE: They are all young, just entering the teens, yet to graduate from shorts to trousers and should ideally be inside classrooms. But in the villages bordering neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, these boys are busy not with science projects but something lethal - brewing illicit liquor.

                                                                  

                                         A boy distils arrack and (R)  two others stack firewood atop the                                            Kottacheri hills in Vellore district | express

Even for Vellore, a district infamous for bootlegging and illicit liquor, this is a shocking instance wherein boys as young as 13 from villages including Kallipettai, Ranganpettai and other neighbouring hamlets have been turned into a ‘workforce’ by notorious moonshiners.                                                                                  There are several out-of-school kids who seem to have fallen prey to the bootleggers’ lure of quick and relatively easy money, as is evident from a series of photographs available with Express.

They show the boys working shoulder-to-shoulder with grown-up men in distilling arrack, which has been banned in the State for several years. 

For several families in the village, brewing arrack has been a family business for decades and it is run like a cottage industry atop the Kottacheri hills. The youngsters are roped in to carry firewood from the plains to the hill and to ferry illicit liquor. This is a road on which there is no turning back once they fall prey to the anti-social elements.

The bootleggers who employ the children pay about `750 to `1,000 for assisting them in the illegal activity, said a villager in a petition to Collector R Nanthagopal. “Many boys, including those studying in Class VIII, are employed for undertaking menial work such as carrying firewood after school hours and during holidays,” said a local source, adding that even women and young girls were actively involved in the activity.

Admitting this, a police officer said, “There are cases where father, mother, sons and daughters work jointly in this business. They justify it claiming they have no other option for making ends meet.” Activists charged that these illegal activities are being undertaken without any hindrance. “It is like a mini-cluster industry atop the hills. Over 75 per cent of the families in Kallipettai village and neighbouring villages are involved in this organised crime,” alleged T Basheeruddin, an activist from Pernambut.

A section of the villagers, who have been resisting the anti-social elements, alleged that they had appealed to the district administration and police department on numerous occasions to act sternly against the racketeers, but in vain.

IINRG Scientists Discover Lac Insect In Vellore Region

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 02nd November 2015

VELLORE/TIRUVANNAMALAI: Two scientists, attached to the Indian Institute of Natural Resins and Gums (IINRG), Ranchi, have discovered the presence of Lac insects in the forests of Jawadhu Hills, Yelagiri Hills and the plain areas in Tiruvannamalai and Vellore districts giving rise to the possibility of economically viable Lac cultivation in the region.

Lac is a natural resin secreted by the tiny insect kerria lacca (Kerr) for its own protection. The resin has been commercially used in various industries such as food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, varnishes, sealing wax, lubricants and insulating materials. It was also traditionally used to make bangles in North India.

 “Each kilogram of resin extracted from the insect fetches Rs 150 to Rs 200. It is the main livelihood for tribes in Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh,” said plant physiologist, IINRG, Vaibhav D Lohot.

A Mohanasundaram (left) and Vaibhav D Lahot examining Lac insects (inset) embedded on trees near Vellore Fort on Sunday

“We have discovered the species for the first time in this region. It will give a scope for Lac cultivation in TN and also provide employment opportunities and a source of income to many,” said entomologist, IINRG, A Mohanasundaram.

Mohanasundaram and Lohot discovered the insect during their four-day survey of this region which they began on October 28. They surveyed Alangayam, Amirthi and Jamunamaruthur in Jawadhu Hills, various parts of Yelagiri Hills and the plain areas such as Gandhi Nagar in Katpadi, CMC College premises in Bagayam and Vellore Fort.

The insects were found on rain trees (Albizia saman) otherwise known as Thoongu-moonchi tree in Tamil and Peepal Tree (ficus religiosa) also known as Arasa Maram and and number of other Lac host plants - Kusum tree (Schleichera Oleosa),  Palah or Flame of the forest tree (Butea monosperma), albizia lebbeck, Yellow Flame or Perumkondrai (peltophorum ferrugineum) and Kamala tree (mellalotus philippensis)  in Vellore and Tiruvannammalai districts. Lac insects, if cultivated, multiply eight times.

With the discovery of the insect in the rain and peepal trees in the Vellore region, the scope of Lac cultivation is promising. “There are two types of lac - Kusmi and Rangeeni. We have collected the samples for morphology and molecular identification tests. After the tests are done successfully, we will also collect the brood (seeds) of the insect for further evaluation,” said Mohanasundaram. The institute will launch a pilot project, if the outcome of the evaluation is promising.

The team has collected samples of the species from Madurai, Theni and Salem districts. It is under various stages of scientific tests. “Sample collected from Madurai was named as Kerria Madurai Lac. The male/female ratio in the seeds is being determined,” he said.

Apathy Keeps Vellore Fort Dark

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 03rd November 2015

VELLORE: Having sunk almost a crore of rupees into a lighting system to light up Vellore Fort powered by wind and solar energy, poor maintenance and official apathy has led to the lighting system deteriorating to the point that the Fort has been enveloped in darkness in the night time for almost one year.

The Rs 90 lakh system lighting up the Fort during the night hours by tapping wind and solar energy was a measure instituted to beautify the historic Fort and promote tourism. A 20 KW power generation unit was established by erecting solar panels and wind turbines imported from Germany.

Eerie silhouettes of deteriorating mannequins, dressed like the sepoys of the Vijayanagara era, grimly remind the public of the failure of officials to sustain the project. The project was first conceived of in the first week of August 2012 under the administration of the then collector Ajay Yadav. It was successfully completed in September 2013 under the Power Grid Corporation of India and District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) with the Self Sufficiency Scheme’s guidelines.

Twenty mannequins, resembling Vijayanagar-era sepoys with  a spear, standing on the bastions along the lower rampart wall on the north-eastern side of the Fort was an added measure  enhancing the attractiveness of the Fort, especially with the idols of the sepoys being illuminated using 30-Watt multi-colour LED lights and 3 watt spotlights. The entire lighting was monitored and maintained using software specifically for such systems.

“A total of 40 LED lights and 300 spot lights were erected to create a visual treat during the night hours. The lights were directed toward the Fort and bastions where the mannequins are installed,” said an official.

The administration’s efforts to light up Vellore Fort aesthetically has fallen by the wayside and is a dark blur in the night time / The fort glowing under lighting project (file pic)

Efforts were made for the Fort to resemble the Vijayanagara period giving the impression that the mannequin soldiers were guarding the Fort with their images reflected in the waters of the moat.

Since the BORG Energy company, which executed the project, handed over the facility to the DRDA after maintaining it for a year as per agreement, maintenance and the aesthetic nature of the project has been lost on the administration. The mannequins with torn clothes remain a testimony to official apathy. Legs and hands are missing from most of the mannequins and several LED lights worth several lakh rupees are missing.

Project Officer, DRDA, Manohar Singh, said, “We will take effective measures to put the project back on track to breathe life into the historical Fort.”

Vellore Fort was built by Chinna Bommi Nayak and Thimma Reddy Nayak, chieftains under Sadasiva Raya of the Vijayanagara Empire in 1566. It is believed to be the country’s only stone fort and is one of the finest military architectures with lower and upper rampart walls. Bijapur Sultans, Marathas, Carnatic Nawabs and the British have also held the fort at different times till independence.