VELLORE: Residents of Karadikudi village in Anaicut taluk alleged that the high-end explosives used in the illegal stone quarries run by seven people are damaging their houses and livestock. They said that the group, using government sanction for one stone quarry in the region, is operating multiple quarries on government and private land.
During the grievance meeting on Monday, around 300 villagers submitted a petition against this to the collector and requested the district administration to take necessary legal action against them. The petition alleges that Munuswamy from Dharmapuri and Natarajan, Sumathi, Balachandar, Venkatesan, Murugan, and Shivakumar from Vellore are involved in stone quarrying and the 24/7 operations, employing high-energy explosives, are disrupting the lives of village residents, causing damages to public buildings and water tanks, and creating cracks in houses. Moreover, the falling stones from the quarry area have adversely impacted farming lands, resulting in the inability to carry out agricultural activities.
“The use of high-energy explosives, resulting in loud blasts and falling stones, has frightened and scattered the goats that graze surrounding that place,” said a villager.
During the meeting, members of the Communist Party of India submitted a petition urging the district collector to expedite the issuance of patta documents for 20 Arundhadhiyar families in Kulavimedu. According to the petition, 20 families, possessing less than 5 acres of land, have cultivated alongside porambokku land for three consecutive generations.
Notably, these lands have persistently remained unsurveyed until the recent intervention of the Vellore Tahsildar, who conducted a survey without any prior notice. In light of this development, the petitioners requested the district administration to promptly take action towards the issuance of patta.
In another petition, Sabarisam from Kannadikuppam village in Tirupattur district asserted that despite six years passing since the national highways department acquired his housing land for highway development, he is yet to receive the compensation.
Despite the submission of several petitions, Sabarisan’s request for compensation remains pending, in stark contrast to other families who have received rightful compensation for land they provided. A total of 359 petitions were received at the collectorate during the public grievance meeting.
‘Act against sand theft’
Vellore: The members of AIADMK’s Vellore Suburban District wing on Monday staged a protest at the Anaicut Taluk bus stand condemning DMK government’s purported inability to address the issue of sand and soil theft in Anaicut union areas. Former minister and AIADMK Deputy General Secretary KP Munisamy, said, “Whenever DMK comes to power, anti-social activities immediately surge in every district. Under AIADMK’s governance, there were no illicit activities like bootlegging,
gambling, or illegal sand and soil theft. The demonstration to prevent sand theft serves as a warning.”