COIMBATORE: Activists in Thadagam Valley welcomed the Madras High Court's April 17 order directing the special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the remaining brickkiln fields in the Thadagam valley to ascertain illegal mining which is affecting the movement of wild elephants along their corridor in the Perur taluk of Coimbatore district. Illegal activities of brickkilns in the fields too will come under the SIT purview.
S Muralidharan, a petitioner and Chennai-based activist, told TNIE that the hundreds and thousands of acres of areas were illegally mined in the Thadagam valley. The Madras High court should punish the illegal brickkiln owners and revenue and mining officials who issued licence but failed to monitor the indiscriminate mining that resulted in environmental degradation and an increase in human-animal conflict.
"Punishing the government officials will set an example and help protect the environment and wildlife in future," said Muralidharan.
S Ganesh of Thadagam Valley Protection Committee said "These brickkiln units are located very close to the foothills of the Western Ghats and an important elephant corridor has been there for over the last 25 years. Out of the 806 brickkiln fields in five villages in the Thadagam valley, the joint committee has submitted a report after conducting field visits only in 565 fields and found illegal mining in up to 433 villages. The SIT will investigate the 241 remaining fields at Nanjundapuram, Veerapandi and Chinna Thadagam villages in the Thadagam valley."
"These units have mined excessive soil and created a roadblock for free animal movement, thus resulting in elephant forays into residential areas and agricultural fields. If the SIT probe is not satisfactory, we will pray the Madras High Court to hand over the investigation into the illegal brickkiln units, which are sealed now, to the CBI if the revenue, mining and police personnel fail to stop those taking machines or soil, etc., from the sealed units," said Ganesh.
The court has also appointed D Shanmugapriya, SP, CB-CID, Chennai, to head the SIT replacing G Nagajothi, the SP of the State Crime Records Bureau since Nagajothi was on continuous leave due to her husband's death.