Lumps of sand paved on the black-topped road testify to illegal mining of sand transported on tractors round the clock.
At dawn, mammoth JCBs reach the sites to mine sand, which is loaded in tractors. The whole exercise is completed in five minutes in the panchayat water ‘porambokku’ of Vedaranyam.
As revenue officials look the other way and as the powers of the panchayats stand reduced, functionaries of the ruling AIADMK are mining sand under the pretext of building or renovating temples, allege residents of the villages.
The first signs of protest have come from Senbaganallur-Thenampulam. This is one of the few panchayats with presidents belonging to parties other than the AIADMK. “We are clueless. The Vedaranyam Tahsildar says she has no authority to give permission, but they have taken permission from the ‘above’,” says Rajasimhan, independent president of the panchayat.
“This has taken away the panchayat’s right to its community assets under Panchayati Raj,” Mr. Rajasimhan says. “Even the panchayat cannot pass a resolution to mine sand and transport it. It can only pass a resolution to desilt and use the sand for strengthening the embankment of a waterbody. But the Tahsildar told us that mining was allowed because they wanted sand for a temple.”
Speaking to The Hindu , Senthil, ward president of Thenampulam, who has opposed mining in water ‘porambokku’ in his ward, says things have gone out of control, with no say for the democratically elected panchayat. He alleges “a nexus” between revenue officials and party functionaries. And the panchayats will have to find resources to rebuild the embankments before the monsoon sets in.
When this correspondent visited the sites, tractors zipped past, whipping up dust, hauling away mounds of embankments. It takes just five minutes to fill a tractor.
A tractor-load is sold for Rs.300, says a JCB handler.
“So far, my panchayat has lost sand to the tune of Rs.15 lakh for a temple which was never built. This week alone, sand worth Rs.10 lakh was taken away from my panchayat, in front of my eyes,” says Mr. Rajasimhan.
A revenue official admits that sand worth over Rs. 1 crore had been illegally mined and sold from Kariapattinam in the past fortnight. “The officials know it, but they can’t act.”
The illegal sand mining has caused alienation among the Dalits and minorities. On Wednesday, at Katripulam, a group of Dalits brought two JCBs and demanded that they too be allowed their share of sand from the panchayat ‘porambokku’. This triggered a clash between the AIADMK branch secretary and the Dalits, forcing the police to intervene.
The Republican Party of India has distributed leaflets, alleging that the Revenue Department has turned a blind eye to the problem and threatening to boycott the Independence Day celebrations.
When contacted, Vedaranyam Tahsildar Shanti said: “The Collector has only given an oral directive to desilt one waterbody in each panchayat, but no permission has been given for transporting sand.”
Nagapattinam Collector T. Munusamy said permission was given only for strengthening embankments and deepening waterbodies to improve storage.
