Slapping Goondas Act fail to deter sand mafia from plundering Palar

An acute threat prevails to the lifeline of Vellore especially at Somalapuram, near Ambur, since concrete pipes buried for the Cauvery combined water supply scheme were exposed as sand around them were excavated. “There is every danger of the exposed pipes to break if machinery used for sand mining hits them inadvertently. This will only add to existing water woes,” said VC Tamilarasan, a resident of Somalapuram. Elaborating on this, he said, “If government does not act immediately, we have no other option but to agitate, as otherwise villages that are receiving water through the scheme will go without water.”

The haste of sand miners to make many trips a day has even resulted in mishaps. On Friday morning, two women were injured as a sand laden lorry crashed into a mini bus that was transporting women workers to a private shoe factory near Gudiyattam.

Sources in Ambur said, “Despite the media highlighting this menace police get around it by arguing that what is being ferried from the Palar is only sand and not river sand. When asked why people should take risks to ferry sand which had no demand while there was an increasing demand for river sand for construction, there is no answer.”

Affirming that illegal sand mining was still continuing, police officials said that in the last one week, around 8 persons were arrested and remanded to custody from in and around Ambur. He also added that a total of 8 vehicles used for sand mining has been seized.