Fearing that their drinking water sources will be hit by sand quarrying, residents of V.C. Mottur panchayat on Friday sought police help to find the 48 “missing wells” on the Palar riverbed at Vannivedu in Walajah taluk. The villagers said there were 48 drinking water wells on the land with Survey No. 835 at Vannivedu. But, the district administration had obtained a nod from the State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) to start a sand quarry claiming that there were no drinking water wells or forest areas in Survey No. 835, they said.
Fearing ill-effects of the quarry, the residents lodged the complaint.
“Nearly 75 per cent of these 48 wells are situated in Survey No. 835. These are the drinking water sources for more than two lakh residents of the Walajapet Municipality and the surrounding villages. The Vannivedu Reserve Forest area is also located near by,” said K. Rathnam, a resident of V.C. Mottur panchayat.
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Many of these wells were built several decades ago. A plaque at the site said the Walajah Municipality Water Work was inaugurated on May 6, 1946.
The original proposal from PWD was to quarry 45,000 cubic metres of sand in the Upper Palar at Survey No. 835 at Vannivedu.
The SEIAA, in its environment clearance, said the proponent had furnished sworn affidavits stating that no quarries were located within one-km radius from periphery of this quarry and there are no water supply head works, drinking water, structural facilities, wells bridges, cross masonry works and any other structure monuments within 500 metres from the quarry site periphery. The residents named the Vellore Collector and the Walajapet tahsildar, apart from PWD and TWAD officials in their complaint. But the police asked them to represent their case to the PWD and TWAD officials. Later, the villagers petitioned the Walajah Municipal Chairman and Commissioner.
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