Villagers detain carts smuggling sand from Palar

It may be recalled that residents of Pattu, a village near Gudiyattam, had besieged over 100 sand carts ferrying sand from the Palar river in their vicinity on October 1.

Locals complained that though only sand carts were allowed to lift sand, as many as 1,000 carts from other places were coming to the spot for lifting sand. Unmitigated sand quarrying had resulted in the ground water table being affected, resulting in reduced supply of water for both agriculture and drinking purposes.

On information, Revenue and police officials rushed to the spot and promised to close the quarry, following which, the seized carts were allowed to proceed. However, as no official action was taken since the last blockade and as quarrying was only increasing in the area, irked locals blocked more than 200 carts on the Palar river bed on Saturday. 

According to the latest reports, officials were trying to pacify the villagers who demanded instant closure of the sand quarry.