Coimbatore
A large number of men, gathered at the behest of brick kiln owners, had trooped into the house of activist Ganesh, 42 and TMS Rajendran, 70 and issued death threats to them. They warned him against raising the issue thereby preventing them from mining red soil in the locality.
More than 100 brick kilns operating in the areas mine soil from a slew of areas falling under Chinna Thadagam panchayat union. Rajendran and Ganesh have been waging a battle against them alleging that illegal mining is adversely affecting the ecology of the locality. The brick kilns scoop out hundreds of loads of red soil everyday leaving deep pits along the migratory pathway of elephants. Environmentalists have also been raising the issue for long as disturbance caused to wild animals may escalate man, wild animal conflict.
“Thadagam, Nanjundapuram, Veerapandi and Somayampalayam panchayats in the region, where red soil mining is rampant come under the Hill Area Conservation Authority (HACA). It is an offence to carry out mining in these areas,” said Ganesh.
Both the activists were threatened to withdraw their petitions against brick kiln units.
Meanwhile, the attempt by brick kiln owners to silence the voice of the two activists by threatening has been recorded in a CCTV camera and has gone viral on social media.
The activists had preferred a complaint at Thadagam police. The police have begun a probe to identify the accused persons with the help of images recorded in the CCTV.
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