Srirangam DMK MLA fined Rs 23.53 cr for illegal mining

TIRUCHY: The ruling DMK’s Srirangam MLA M Palaniyandi was fined Rs 23.54 crore for mining beyond the permitted level on Friday, even as the MLA released an audio message stating he was targeted by his party people.

The action on MLA was part of the Rs 44.65 crore fine imposed by the Revenue and Geology & Mining departments and TNPCB on 12 quarries in Karur. It is said there were a series of violations in the stone quarries across Karur district, and several complaints were lodged against them, following which a team of officials from the Revenue, Geology and Mining and TN Pollution Control Board organised a joint inspection at 79 quarries in Karur district.

Among them, 40 quarries were found to be violating the mining norms, of which 12 quarries reportedly mined a whopping 12.63 lakh cubic meters of stones and gravel beyond the permitted level by the Department of Geology and Mining.

Subsequently, based on a report prepared after a joint inspection, the Karur DRO imposed a fine of Rs 44.65 on 12 quarries in four blocks of the district, and notices were served to the owners to pay the fine. Srirangam MLA M Palaniyandi was fined Rs 23.54 crore for violating the norms by the quarry functioning at Krishnarayapuram.

Meanwhile, the MLA Palaniyandi released an audio message stating that he was targeted by his party people also. He said he had mined around 50 feet beyond the permitted level, and that should attract only Rs 50 lakh of fine. “The fine of Rs 23.54 crore is just unimaginable, and some heavyweights in his own party were behind this,” he said in the audio message that went viral in the region.