Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

“TAMIN quarrying within protected area”

MADURAI: Tamil Nadu Minerals Limited (TAMIN) was quarrying granite within a protected area, notified by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), around a Jain monument in Keezhavalavu near here, according to two Advocate Commissioners appointed by the Madras High Court.

In their report filed before a Division Bench comprising Justice Elipe Dharma Rao and Justice R. Subbiah on Wednesday, the advocates said that the entire area spread over 51.77 acres encompassing a hillock on which the monument was situated had been declared a protected area by an ASI notification issued on March 19, 1921.

However, TAMIN was quarrying within the protected area claiming that the safety distance of 300 metres should be measured not from the boundaries of the hillock but from the monument, ‘Panchapandavar Padukkai,’ which was situated on an area of 0.04.5 hectare on top of the hill, the advocates said.

Advocate Commissioners K. Srinivasan and M. Ajmal Khan had inspected the site on August 20 as per the orders passed by the High Court on August 6. They were appointed in a public interest litigation petition filed by A. Mahaboob Batcha, Managing Trustee of Society for Community Organisation Trust, an NGO here.

After perusing the report filed by the lawyers, the Division Bench headed by Mr. Justice Dharma Rao directed the ASI officials as well as the Revenue Department officials to conduct a joint survey to demarcate the boundaries of the protected area.

The survey should be conducted on September 15.

The report also stated that there were no fissures or physical damage on the monument as the quarrying operations had commenced only in December last.

“We posed a question to the officials of TAMIN whether there would be any damage to the monument after a decade or so…(but) they were not in a position to answer our queries,” the lawyers said.

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