ARIYALUR: Toughening their stance after Express highlighted the controversy surrounding a retired headmaster’s attempts to de-silt a waterbody, Revenue officials served notice on him asking to prove that the vandal sand (silt) spread on the land owned by his kin was not taken from the lake he has been dredging.
On Wednesday, Express published a story about the efforts of R Thyagarajan, a retired headmaster in Vilangudi near Ariyalur, to dredge a lake in the village and the action initiated by officials to stop him from desilting it any further alleging flouting of norms.
Ariyalur BDO C Rajendran served a notice to Thyagarajan on Thursday seeking explanation for the alleged violations.
‘We permitted Thyagarajan to dredge the lake as a goodwill gesture considering his track record. We want him to explain his actions to the district administration formally,” Rajendran told Express.
Speaking to Express, officials including Rajendran reiterated that Thyagarajan’s act of dredging and desilting the Veerapillai Kuttai lake in Vilangudi was an infringement.
The flouting of rules, they claim, include deepening the lake beyond three feet below the lake ghat causing potential drowning of people and transporting of sand out of the lake to widen road.
The biggest accusation was that silt from the dredged lake was being transferred to lands owned by his family members.
Thyagarajan admitted to be unaware of the rules for deepening beyond permissible limits, but refuted that he used the sand to widen roads.
Further, he said that silt used on his family members’ lands was taken with permission from Revenue officials.