Days after corruption in the education department during the Dravidian model regime was exposed, more and more business owners in Tamil Nadu are coming forward to express their grievances they faced under the DMK government to the newly formed TVK government.
The president of the Sand Lorry Owners’ Federation, Chella Rasamani, has alleged that large-scale irregularities in gravel and savudu (red earth) quarries during the previous DMK government caused a loss of nearly ₹50,000 crore to the Tamil Nadu exchequer. He has urged the present government to register criminal cases against former ministers Duraimurugan and S. Regupathy, as well as an alleged intermediary identified as Rajappa, accusing them of involvement in the alleged scam.
Addressing reporters in Namakkal, Rasamani claimed that widespread irregularities had taken place in gravel and savudu quarries across several districts, including Chennai, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Tiruvallur, Ranipet, Vellore, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Coimbatore, Salem, Erode, Madurai and Sivaganga.
According to Rasamani, a person identified as Rajappa, allegedly hailing from Mayiladuthurai, used the names of members of the then-ruling party’s family to intimidate quarry operators and lorry owners. He alleged that lorry owners transporting gravel and savudu were forced to pay ₹700 per unit as “royalty”, which he claimed was collected in the name of “party fund”. He further alleged that in some quarries, operators collected as much as ₹2,000 per lorry load in illegal charges, as reported in Dinamalar.
He further alleged that quarry operators extracted minerals not only from licensed quarries but also from unlicensed sites and government poramboke lands without authorisation, removing thousands of truckloads of material every day.
Rasamani also alleged that lorries were loaded far beyond the permitted limits, with some carrying up to 50 tonnes of gravel and savudu. He claimed that instead of issuing the mandatory online transit passes, quarry operators supplied fake transit passes and permit slips to transporters after collecting money from them.
“As a result, our lorries are intercepted by officials from the police, revenue, transport and mining departments, who declare that the transit passes are fake and accuse us of illegally transporting minerals,” Rasamani alleged. He claimed that lorry owners and drivers were subsequently booked under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act and were arrested, even though, according to him, they had paid the required charges to quarry operators.
He further alleged that despite repeatedly petitioning government officials, the Chief Secretary, the Governor, the Chief Minister and the Mines Minister about the alleged illegal mining and fake transit passes, no action was taken during the previous regime. He also claimed that after filing complaints against illegal mineral transportation, he was threatened and pressured to withdraw them. According to Rasamani, police instead registered cases against federation members who staged protests and arrested them, while no action was taken against those allegedly responsible for issuing fake transit passes. He said the repeated action against lorry owners and drivers had created fear among transporters and discouraged many from operating their vehicles.
Rasamani also alleged that in several instances, quarry operators obtained permission to extract gravel from patta land but illegally mined sand from adjacent lands without approval while using permits issued for gravel transportation. He further alleged that the number of illegally operating quarries in Tamil Nadu exceeds the number of government-authorised quarries and claimed that irregularities had also taken place in the renewal of quarry licences.
Rasamani further claimed that if Tamil Nadu’s mineral resources were managed properly, the State could generate up to ₹50,000 crore in annual revenue. Calling for a comprehensive investigation, he urged the present government to probe allegations relating to illegal quarrying, overloaded transportation, fake transit passes and the collection of political funds, and to initiate legal action against the officials, quarry owners and former ministers allegedly responsible. He also urged the government to bring greater transparency to the mining sector, eliminate illegal mineral transportation and protect the livelihoods of lorry owners.
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