As part of its ongoing crackdown again illegal mining, the Madurai district administration on Sunday raided the premises of Olympus Granites Private Limited, a firm in which Union Chemicals Minister M K Alagiri’s son Dhayanidhi Alagiri was a partner till 2010.
Collector Anshul Mishra, who inspected the firm’s premises at Keelavalavu, confirmed that the company had indulged in excess mining. “All the (granite mining) licensees including Olympus had misused the license and illegally undertook mining operations beyond the permitted limit. At the moment, we are unable to arrive at the exact quantum of illegal mining,” he told Express.
Authorities of various agencies including the Mining and Revenue Departments were examining the granite stock in the stock yard of the firm and comparing it with the records of the Tamil Nadu Minerals Limited (TAMIN) to ascertain if they had mined in excess of what was permitted by the State agency.
“I inspected the quarries to ensure proper assessment of existing granite rocks and identify violations. It is an enormous task and the process will take time as we need to assess the extent to which rocks were cut illegally,” Mishra added. Officials were also trying to locate if the mining firm had dug up secret caves to hide granites that were mined illegally.
The raiding team found that at several places, vast expanse of land was filled with gravels and boulders presumably to conceal locations which were illegally mined. Asked whether disciplinary action will be taken against the tainted officers who had helped the illegal mining in the past, the Collector said, “If we find any irregularities in the functioning of TAMIN or Mining Department officials, we will recommend to the Government to take action against them.”
In a related development, police picked up a man suspected that he was snooping around the raiding team to pass on information to the quarry owners.
The suspect was identified as Selvakumar (31) of Keelavalavu near Melur Taluk. “He was following the collector during his visit to the Keelavalavu quarry. Officials spotted him and informed the police. He has been detained for questioning,” an official said.
Meanwhile, authorities have found that vehicles and poclains were operated without registration number in some quarries. The Collector instructed Transport Department officials to check the vehicles.
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