COIMBATORE: Landowners in Thadagam valley where red sand was excavated indiscriminately by brick kiln operators have started levelling pits as per the High Court order.
On March 2, Madras High Court ordered closure of pits. Following it, the district administration formed a six-member committee headed by collector, and officials from Personal Assistant to the Collector (Agriculture), District Forest Officer, District Environmental Engineer from Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), Coimbatore North, Assistant Director of Geology and Mining Department, Executive Engineer of PWD and Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO), Coimbatore North.
The district administration reported in the court that 569 fields have been dug in the valley. The court directed that land reclamation survey should be conducted to mitigate the damages done by the quarrying by June 8.
Obliging the order, the levelling work has been initiated in few places in patta lands in Chinna Thadagam, Nanjundapuram and Veerapandi Panchayats for the past four days. However, petitioners claimed that levelling work on poramboke land (revenue land) is yet to be started.
“As per our survey, over 1,570 acres of poramboke land and 3,703 acres of patta lands have been dug for illegal brick kilns for the last two decades. The pits were dug a minimum of 5 m and maximum of 25 m depth. It was difficult to cover the land by levelling as large amount of sand is needed for the purpose. We suggest that the tons of red sand, which have been piled in stock yards of the closed illegal brick kilns, should be used for this,” said S Ganesh, one of the petitioners against illegal brick kilns.
He said the levelling work in patta lands is yet to begin in Pannirmadai and Somayampalayam panchayats.
When contacted, V Sasikumar, Assistant Director of District Geology and Mining Department, said, “The work is initiated and will be further carried out in other lands too.”