The Madras High Court bench here on Wednesday ordered notice to the Public Works Department (PWD), the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) and the Madurai District Collector on a public interest litigation filed alleging that two private granite companies had dumped the waste material from their quarries into several water bodies at Melur taluk in Madurai.
The petitioner, V. R. Thangarajan, claimed that Pallava Granites and PRP Granites had been dumping waste material from their granite quarries into irrigation tanks such as Vellaiveerankulam, Kaaraikaliaendal, Koorankulam, Kattichetti, Vedankulam, Sirumanickankulam and several others.
“A similar case was filed in the High Court bench in 2007 and a division bench had directed officials from the PWD, TNPCB and the district administration to make periodic inspections in the granite quarries and ensure that they maintained an eco-friendly environment”, claimed the petitioner’s counsel.
According to the counsel, the officials failed to conduct periodic inspections and the waste from the granite quarries continue to be dumped in the irrigation tanks to date.
In his petition, Mr. Thangarajan claimed that he sent a representation to the officials on December 13, 2012 seeking the removal of the granite waste from the irrigation tanks in Melur taluk, but no action has been taken so far. Therefore, he filed the public interest litigation seeking a direction to the officials to conduct periodic inspections and initiate action to remove the granite waste from the irrigation tanks. A division bench comprising Justices N. Paul Vasanthakumar and P. Devadass adjourned the case by two weeks.
