Following a huge uproar over the environmental impact caused by the 192 brick kilns operating in Chinna Thadagam, 24 Veerapandi and Nanjundapuram, activists and environmentalists managed to bring this issue to the government's notice last year.
Coimbatore: Following a huge uproar over the environmental impact caused by the 192 brick kilns operating in Chinna Thadagam, 24 Veerapandi and Nanjundapuram, activists and environmentalists managed to bring this issue to the government's notice last year.
Writ petitions were filed, environmentalists and activists raised enquiries through RTI and finally after a mamoth effort pollution control board has recommended closure of 182 brick kilns in and around Thadagam, but the sad truth is not only the kilns continue to operate but new ones have also sprung up.
It is alleged that many of the brick kilns in the Thadagam area operate without any authorized approval.Many social activists have lodged multiple complaints with the District Administration on those grounds.
Video evidence of red soil theft in Chinnathadagam, Pannimadai, Nanjundapuram, Veerapandi, Somayampalayam and a lot of other areas has been aired many times too. Many concerned citizens have opined that agricultural lands, poramboke lands and even water bodies have not been spared by these soil thieves.
Of the five panchayats, Chinna Thadagam, 24 Veerapandi Pudur, Somayampalayam and Nanjundapuram fall under the Hill Area Conservation Authority (HACA) as they form part of the buffer zone where the hill slope ends and the forest begins. The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests forbids large constructions in HACA lands; any construction in the area, for that matter, needs HACA clearance.
"In HACA lands, the only permitted activity is agriculture. For anything else, permissions must be taken from 17 departments, including Geology and Mining, Forestand the Pollution Control Board. From the RTI replies we received from the PCB and the Mining and Forest departments, we found out that these units have no permission to operate but they continue to because of political support," added Ganesh.
"According to an order issued by the Ministry of Environment in June 2013, excavation activity can be done only up to a depth of 2 metres, which is about 6 feet and 8 inches, but in some areas in Thadagam, they have gone up to a depth of 120 feet, and the kilns also swindle red earth from others fields too and threaten the owners when they are confronted," the activist lamented.
T.M.S. Rajendran, an activist who along with Ganesh filed the writ petition faced such a situation recently. Sujendra Gowda, his son was threatened by lorry operators when he tried to take photographs and videos of lorries digging out red earth from their field. "Lorry operators threatened to kill me when I tried taking pictures of them digging red earth from our field. I told them they can do whatever they wish since my father was already in the fight against these brick kilns," said Sujendra.
The writ petition filed by Ganesh and Rajendranis still pending in Madras high court but in the meantime, new units are coming up without permission, which shows that the brick kilns are flouting every possible rule, opine activists.
District administration could not be reached fora comment on this issue.