THOOTHUKUDI: Tamilaga Anaithu Vivasayigal Sangam appealed to the district administration to control windmill operators from allegedly damaging water bodies and government porambokke lands and ensure the safety of the agriculturists who have been lodging complaints against illegal transportation of gravel required for installing windmills.
In a complaint, the Sangam's district secretary SK Arumai Raj of Keelaparaipatti said he caught two lorries that were illegally excavating gravel at a water body at Ottudanpatti village in Kayathar taluk, along with a few other farmers belonging to his Sangam on January 9. He also said he handed them over to the respective Revenue Inspector Pichaiya and VAO Paramasaivan for further action. Though an FIR was registered two days later at Kadambur station, the police and revenue had relieved the seized vehicles with the intention to protect their owners, he alleged.
Arumai Raj said the machinery was illegally mining gravel from the water body in Ottudanpatti village only to make a pathway to the hinterlands and to install the windmill turbines on private lands. "Meanwhile, two men in camouflaged identities, suspected to be part of the sand mafia, threatened the Sangam's Kayathar union secretary K Ayyapparaj at his house in Vadakku Vandhanam. They threatened to behead him if he complained about the illegal sand mining activity for setting up the windmill industry", he said while demanding adequate safety for the agriculturists.
In this regard, a police complaint was lodged at Pasuvanthanai police station, and the issues were intimated to the Superintendent of Police and the collector. However, the culprits are yet to be arrested, Arumai Raj said.
