The Tamil Nadu Orunginaintha Manal Lorry Urimaiyalargal Sangam has urged the State government to take steps to open the 70 new sand quarries that were announced by the Chief Minister.
A resolution to this effect was adopted at a meeting of the Sangam held here on Sunday. The ban on sand quarrying has brought the entire construction industry to a grinding halt all over the State. This has also affected the sand lorry owners, and thousands of workers employed with them in a big way.
The Sangam decided to stage a hunger strike in Salem city on December 28 to highlight the above demand and protect the livelihood of one lakh sand lorry owners and drivers and other employees, besides more than 10 lakh workers employed in the construction industry. The fast was also to demand provision of sand at a reasonable rate to the public.
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The members of the sand lorry owners, construction associations, construction workers from across the State will participate in the fast, S.P. Selvaraj, president of the association, later told presspersons.
Favouritism alleged
The government should take steps for vacating the Madras High Court stay on sand quarrying in the rivers in the State to ensure the functioning of the sand quarries without any hitch, the association said, and alleged that sand was not being distributed to those who had made online bookings. The authorities in the quarries accord priority to the lorries owned by ruling party men by providing them with fake receipts. This has only led to loss of revenue to the government, it alleged.
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The Sangam said that some vested interests were bent on importing poor quality sand from foreign countries.
S. P. Selvaraj, president of the Sangam, presided over the meeting.