MADURAI | Jan 12, 2015:
In a first of its kind exercise in the ongoing enquiry into illegal mining by the Sagayam panel, officials ascertained the depth of a quarry which had encroached upon the Paraikulam tank in Idayapatti in the district.
Legal commissioner U. Sagayam noted that private quarry operators, who had obtained permit for quarrying on patta lands, had also encroached upon the Paraikulam and Suryanendhal tanks, which had not been reported by local officials.
After inspecting the quarry near the tank spread across 36.12 hectares, officials from the mines and revenue departments used iron chains to ascertain the depth of the quarry which was more than 66 feet deep.
Based on representations given by Krishna Sivaji, panchayat president of Idayapatti, on water woes, Mr. Sagayam permitted the villagers to make use of a borewell inside the quarry as their water sources had been affected by the deep mining activity.
“Water can be pumped from the borewell installed in the mine, given the current circumstances,” he told the villagers.
P.K. Moorthy, a farmer from Idayapatti, said he found in March 2010 that the Suryanendhal tank, on which he had a three-year lease agreement with the Department of Fisheries for fish rearing from August 2009, had disappeared under a pile of mud and waste dumped by the quarry operators.
“The tank would always have less water but was identified as an effective place to rear fish and it was also a water source for our livestock,” Mr. Moorthy added.
Inspecting a quarry at Pulampatti, Mr. Sagayam questioned the farmers whether they knew that there were granite deposits under their farmlands before they sold them to the quarry operators in 2006. “There are special procedures to be followed, such as inspection by the Collector, before wet lands are sold for quarrying. We will find out whether these procedures had been followed,” he told officials during the inspection.
(Source: http://www.thehindu.com/)