HC official to inspect Vaippar riverbed

A division bench comprising Justice PN Prakash and Justice B Pugalendhi was hearing a public interest litigation petition filed by Kumar from Thapathi in Thoothukudi on the issue.

The petitioner stated that after obtaining permission from authorities concerned to lift unwanted sand from cultivable lands at Thapathi village, it is grossly unfair that such permission had been misused to lift sand on the riverbed of Vaippar, illegally.

Such illegal acts had been recurring up to an extent of 500 metres on the riverbed after digging to a depth of 30 metres with the aid of machinery. Several thousand units of such illegally-mined sand were sold by miners.

While a ban on lifting such natural resource remains in effect in districts under the jurisdiction of the court, such unlawful acts go unabated. Due to such acts of illegal mining on the riverbed, problems concerning drinking water scarcity would arise and affect people.

Moreover, such impact would also adversely affect agriculture, affecting the livelihoods of farmers. Hence, the petitioner sought direction from the bench to strictly implement a ban on illegal sand mining on the Vaippar riverbed.

The bench, after hearing, wondered how the district administration permitted to lift sand from the Vaippar riverbed and asked whether the government was not aware that such mining of sand would affect agriculture.

Moreover, the bench queried whether the Collector was aware of the ban on sand mining on the riverbed and said such acts would not be permitted any further.