Angered Pernambut locals burn sieves used for sand mining

Sources said there was a brief lull in sand mining after locals threatened to boycott the parliamentary polls if no official action was taken on their petitions. However, it resumed last week following which a few members of the anti-sand mining group found sieves and water cans used by the culprits.

According to P S Subramani, who is part of the group, “We immediately complained to the tahsildar demanding action, but to no avail.” Annoyed at this continued disregard for their demands, a few members of the group on Sunday went to the spot and set the sieves on fire. “We again alerted the local police, who claim to have seized two tractors,” Subramani said.

Notwithstanding the police action, Tamil Nadu Mahila Congress Vice-President J Krishnaveni opined that there was every chance of locals, fed up over the lack of adequate official response, taking the law into their own hands. “This could then lead to a full-scale feud between miners and locals,” she said.

Claiming that officials were reluctant to act firmly due to the involvement of a ruling party functionary, she said, “Police file cases against other persons, but fail to book the actual culprit.” “With the town already reeling under acute water shortage, no official seems bothered that rampant lifting of sand will push the water levels further down,” Krishnaveni said.

It is this worry over the availability of water that has led locals to risk their personal safety by keeping a night vigil at the river, despite it being far from the town. The locals are encouraged by the fact that a former panchayat president was caught red-handed when trying to mine sand illegally from the Pambar river in nearby Tirupattur. Though the culprit allegedly threatened the police and said he belonged to the ruling party, he was still arrested.