Villagers hoist black flags to protest sand mining

They said the ground water in the state has gone down to abysmal depths due to continuous of mining of sand. “If more and more quarries are opened, and that too by the government itself, there will be acute water scarcity in the state,” rued the residents.  

Residents also said that Sithavanayakanpatti is located close to Vaippar river and the ring wells in the river bed supply drinking water to more than 30 villages in the surrounding area. Many people are involved in illegal mining of sand with the active support of government officials in Vaippar river bed and because of the rampant illegal sand mining the ground water level has gone down. 

People of the surrounding villages already face the problem of drinking water shortage and water for irrigation is also inadequate. Under the prevailing circumstance, the government had approved setting up of 70 extra sand quarries to tackle the shortage of sand. “Is it fair on the part of the government to compound our problems,” they queried. 

At Marwavanmadam in Thoothukudi district, an AIADMK Amma Party cadre, Thangapandi, climbed atop of a mobile phone tower on Wednesday morning. As the Chief Minister had to pass via the route, police acted swiftly and brought him down. He demanded the closure of Sterlite Copper, which has been polluting Thoothukudi.  

As a precautionary measure, farmers’ representatives were taken into police custody in advance since they had announced a black flag protest against the move of the state government.