Framers seek action against road contractor for mining red soil illegally

Coimbatore: Officials with the mines and revenue departments on Friday conducted a survey near Thethipalayam following allegations that a contractor involved in the western ring road project was illegally extracting red soil from a stream in the locality. Earlier, district collector P Pavankumar Giriyappanavar had instructed the officials to inspect the area based on a complaint from the farmers in this regard.

Periyasamy, a farmer from Thethipalayam, said, "Many farmers in our area recently received notices regarding illegal red soil mining, with officials imposing hefty fines on them. The contractor involved in the western ring road project on Thursday extracted more than 100 units of red soil from the revenue land without obtaining any permission. The district administration should take action against the contractor for the violation."

When contacted, an official with the highways department said, "Within the project boundary, the contractor is allowed to take and use soil. In this case, the contractor cleared a vent, where a bridge is coming up. However, the contractor extracted red soil from an adjacent area beyond the boundary."

He said they hadn't given any permission to the contractor to take red soil from the revenue land. "We have instructed the contractor to restore the red soil in the area, from where it was taken without permission. The demand for soil is huge, and the quantity taken doesn't even meet our requirement."

The official said they required about eight lakh cubic metres of soil for the 11.8-km stretch of the project. "Every day, we require around 200 loads of soil to meet the project deadline. Nowadays, it is becoming increasingly difficult to source soil."

When contacted, a revenue department official said, "Based on the collector's instructions, we conducted a joint survey with the mines department in the area, from where red soil was extracted without permission. We have submitted a report on the quantity extracted to the collector, who will take action based on the findings."