CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the state government to initiate immediate action to prevent illegal sand mining from government and patta land on the Kosasthalaiyar river basin in Tiruvallur district.
A division bench comprising Justices SM Subramaniam and V Lakshminarayanan issued the direction on Friday while disposing of a petition filed by the Kosasthalai Aaru Matrum Kanimavala Pathukappu Sangam.
“We direct the respondents to initiate immediate action to prevent illegal mining of sand, soil, and savudu from the government poramboke land in the Kosasthalai river basin, as well as the excavation of sand and savudu from the patta land in excess of permissible limits in Meyyur, Vembedu, Rajapalayam, Somadevanpattu, and Eraiyur villages of Uthukottai taluk and Thiruvallur taluk respectively,” the bench said in its order.
The court asked the petitioner to file an appropriate petition, including contempt of court, to prevent illegal mining in the event of a violation of the terms and conditions of the licence or any illegal sand mining found or permitted by any government authority.
The petitioner alleged that large-scale illegal mining is being conducted on government land in the river basin, and mining is exceeding the permissible limits in these villages. The plea added that such illegal activity is being carried out with the active collusion of government officials, as no action has been taken to prevent illegal mining.
However, Additional Advocate General M Suresh Kumar submitted that all the necessary actions had been initiated to prevent illegal mining and that only the permitted quantity was allowed to be removed as per the licence conditions. A special task force had been constituted at the district level to prevent illegal mining, he added.