About 100 villagers from Chinnareddipatti near Peraiyur thronged the Collectorate here on Monday demanding immediate cancellation of licence granted for quarrying sand from Periya Kanmoi(Muthu Ayyanar kanmoi), a tank in their village.
The villagers, who brought bottles of water sourced from the tank to show that it was potable, alleged that the quarrying would affect the water resources of Chinnareddipatti and a few surrounding villages, which primarily depended on the tank for drinking water and agriculture.
R. Avudayammal, a woman from the village, said the panchayat had sunk two wells in the village, one for drinking water and another for irrigation. The villagers alleged that the district administration had granted permission to an individual from Devakottai in Sivaganga district in July for quarrying 45,000 cubic metres of sand despite their opposition for more than a year. They claimed that the panchayat had not passed any resolution approving granting of quarrying licence.
R. Jeyaraman from the village said that after hearing about the proposal to grant licence, they had submitted petitions in August and September 2015 to the then Collector to register their objection. “We also filed a petition on July 11, 2016, to the present Collector and another to the Revenue Divisional Officer of Usilampatti on July 26. However, they were not taken into consideration,” he said.
Meanwhile, a case had been registered at the Peraiyur police station against some of the villagers for allegedly attempting to prevent the men employed by the licensee from quarrying, he said. “The men have already quarried six to seven feet of sand from a particular point,” he said.
Stating that permission was not needed from the panchayat for granting licences, A. Arumuga Nainar, Deputy Director of Mines (Madurai), said sand quarrying would not affect the water resources in any way. “The wells sunk in the tank have already dried and are in disuse. Moreover, the location for which we have provided the licence is 120 metres away from the wells,” he said.
Another senior official said a report submitted by the Usilampatti RDO also said that there would be no adverse impact to the water resources of the village.
