TIRUNELVELI: Residents of Panayankurichi near Pappakudi on Wednesday demanded the state government to take action against the stone quarries, which have been blasting high-powered explosives during nighttime and scattering debris on farm fields.
The residents, led by the village naattamai Hariharan and Idaikal Panchayat Vice President Dharmaraj inspected the stone quarries located around their village. "Our village is surrounded by six stone quarries, of which four are actively functioning.
Since the quarries are illegally using high-powered explosives to break the stones during night time, children and elderly people in our village are affected by its shock waves. The debris of the stones from these quarries is scattered on the nearby farm fields. Digging deep pits will gradually lead to groundwater depletion. Because of this, the farmers have been forced to give up cultivation," said Hariharan.
Mineral extraction on PACL land
The residents also raised concerns against a stone quarry, which dug a deep pit and extracted a large amount of stone deposits from PACL's land, the sale of which was banned by the Supreme Court. "The Sub Registrars across Tamil Nadu are facing legal and departmental action for illegally selling the PACL land to some individuals.
At the same time, a stone quarry here extracted stones from PACL land against the Supreme Court's direction. Based on my complaint, the district administration stopped quarrying on the PACL land. However, action should be taken against the officials, seller, and buyer of the PACL land," Dharmaraj demanded.
When contacted by TNIE, the former Joint Director of Mines, Tirunelveli Muruganantham, who is presently working in Salem, said his team had prevented the quarry administration from extracting stones on PACL land. "The State government is preparing to act against the persons concerned in this case," he added.