CHENNAI: “When I was kid, we used to dig pits in the riverbed with our hands. Water would ooze. When I became a mother around the year 2000, we used to dig wells along the river and there was water. After mining commenced in 2004, only borewells had water. Now, even borewells are going dry,” said 45-year-old E Prabhavathi.
She is among the residents of Lakshmivilasapuram and Bagasalai villagers who are up in arms against the sand mining.
The villagers fear the sand mining would deplete groundwater and hence snuff out the 250-odd agriculture dependent families. A posse of 150 policemen have been posted in the village in response to the protests.
“The government will take all steps to ensure the norms are followed and that the mining doesn’t affect the villages in the surrounding,” E Sundaravalli, Tiruvallur Collector, told Express when contacted about the alleged irregularities.
But villagers are not convinced. Ever since the State government’s mining operations began a fortnight ago, there has been stiff opposition from the two villages. They even went on a two-day hunger fast demanding a permanent end to mining after a symbolic sit-in protest on the river bed with colourful ‘kudams’ (containers). The protests, however, just brought more police into the village to silence their voices.
A peace committee which was set-up has failed to bear any fruit with the government insisting on mining their 25,168 units of soil (12,584 loads) over the next 12 months.
A visit by the local MLA V G Rajendran temporarily halted operations after he pointed out violations in the mining. However, without making any rectifications, the Public Works Department resumed operations on Wednesday.