MADURAI: Madurai RDO Karunakaran, is planning to hold an inquiry with the owners of quarries operating in Katchaikatti village in Vadipatti taluk soon following complaints that they have been using the Vaguthamalai Odai as a pathway to transport minerals.
Speaking to TNIE, Karunakaran said that based on a letter from an Assistant Engineer of the Periyar Vaigai Basin, Andipatti, he is planning to conduct a meeting with quarry owners.
The Assistant Engineer, in his earlier letter, said, “The access channel carrying water from Vaguthamalai to the government-owned Karuppumaniyakaran tank has been encroached upon by unauthorized occupants. Under the Tamil Nadu Protection of Tanks Act 2007, heavy vehicles are not permitted in tank supply channels. Therefore, they were instructed to create an alternative route that avoids the water pathway and transport minerals in compliance with mining regulations.”
When TNIE spoke to Mokkamayan, Assistant Executive Engineer of the Periyar Vaigai Irrigation, Andipatti, he said that based on a complaint received from a resident of Katchaikatti, M Gnanasekaran, the department conducted an inspection in September 2025 and found that quarry owners were using Vaguthamalai Odai as a pathway to transport minerals.
Though notices were sent to the eight quarries functioning in the area, no reply has been received so far. Meanwhile, a letter was sent to the Madurai RDO seeking action.
M Gnanasekar had submitted a petition to the Chief Minister’s Special Cell in July alleging that quarry operators in the area were using Vaguthamalai Odai as a pathway to transport minerals, causing inconvenience and concern among local residents.
The Director of the Department of Geology and Mining, in his recent reply to the petitioner after conducting an inspection, has stated that alternative routes are available in the area for transporting minerals.
Speaking to TNIE, Gnanasekar said he has been residing in the village since birth and that quarries have been functioning in the area for more than 40 years.
“Although I received two different replies from the Department of Geology and Mining and the Water Resources Department, to my knowledge there is no such way to transport minerals. I am going to petition the district collector K J Praveen Kumar to conduct an inspection in person in order to save the waterbody in my village,” he said.