Just a few days ago, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s deputy secretary of propaganda wing, Gudiyatham Kumaran put out allegations against senior DMK leader Duraimurugan and his son.
#BreakingNews – Estranged #DMK Leader Gudiyatham Kumaran accuses loot of ₹60,000 Crores just in sand mining in last 2.5 years by DMK Govt.
Former Finance Minister accused earlier a loot of ₹30,000 Crores by DMK First Family.
Total Corruption now stands at ₹90,000 Crores. pic.twitter.com/Id7CRYGiPW
— Dr.SG Suryah (@SuryahSG) November 22, 2023
He alleged that Duraimurgan and his son Kathir Anandan had earned nearly ₹60,000 through sand mining. It is alleged that 2nd tier cadre ranks of the DMK are unable to make money and a conflict has broken out. This conflict came out in the form of the video shared by Gudiyatham Kumaran. He adds that it is not only the conflict that broke out, a scam in the making in Tamil Nadu has also raised its head.
What Is The Issue?
Gudiyatham Kumaran was suspended from his duties a few days ago because he badmouthed DMK Minister Duraimurugan and his son Kathir Anandan.
He accused the duo of earning ₹30,000-40,000 crores and not allowing the rest of the cadre to earn even ₹5 crores. Political commentator Maridhas in his video brings to light the scam in the sand mining sector by Duraimurugan and Kathir Anandan and that they have earned not just ₹30,000 crores but ₹60,000 crores.
Fact Check
Maridhas shares some information obtained by filing an RTI. This is about how much the government is earning through sand mining. Like how TASMAC is run by the government, all sand quarries in the state are run by the government. The sand is mined and sold – this is done by the TN government. This is wholly done by the government and the earnings also end up in the government coffers only.
The RTI query was about how much the state earned through sand mining from 1 April 2022 up to 1 May 2023. The response obtained was that the state earned ₹18.66 crores.
Going back to 2013, if we analyse the revenue generated by sand mining, the government earned ₹188 crores for the year 2012-2013. Maridhas says this figure is also wrong because it was estimated that a whopping ₹15,000 crore was supposed to be earned in place of a paltry ₹188 crores. There were allegations of a scam and that people involved were pocketing the money at that time.
It was estimated that sand was mined from rivers and was valued at ₹40 crores per day. So the calculation of ₹188 crores in a year is wrong.
Every day, it is estimated that the Tamil Nadu government sends around 5000-6000 truckloads of sand. But the needs of Tamil Nadu are around 55,000 truckloads. This was in 2013. Thus a question arises, how can the Tamil Nadu government send only 5000-6000 truckloads because there are so many buildings under construction and a lot of other development work going on in the state?
At such a time, who or what was the source of the sand for these activities? The news report from 2013 tells us that 55,000 truckloads of land were sent from TN and if the said 55,000 truckloads of land were sent, it would amount to a value of ₹15,000 crores.
This was the requirement for 2013. For Chennai alone, 9000-10000 truckloads of sand were required and a total of 55,000 truckloads were needed to meet the requirements of the entire TN. But today in 2023, Chennai alone requires 20,000 truckloads of sand and TN requires 75,000 truckloads. A truck can hold about 400 cft of sand. To build a 1000 sqft house, one would need 1200cft sand.
Since the rate of development and construction activities has gone up, the revenue per day should also go up to ₹80 crores.
But where is this sand coming from? All fingers point to the Tamil Nadu government only since no private individual or organisation is involved in the sales.
So if an estimated ₹80 crores is the revenue per day, an approximate earning of ₹29,200 crores can be an estimated revenue in a year. However, according to the RTI, a petty ₹18 crores is what is shown as revenue.
Now if we are wondering where and how Gudiyatham Kumaran came up with the figure of ₹60000 crores, all we need to do is multiply this figure ₹29200 crores into 2 since the TN government came to power about 2-2.5 years ago.
Now who are the people who are alleged of the scam:
- Duraimurugan
- His son Kathir Anandan and
- Karigalan who controls the sand quarries in the state
Maridhas calls for the arrest of these 3 individuals immediately. He also adds that 2 important people have been involved in this sand-mining mafia for many years. One is Pudukottai Ramachandran and the other is Dindigul Rathinam who have looted nature’s resources irrespective of the government in power.
Maridhas challenges the Mission Director of the recently formed Fact Checking Unit with 5 questions. He asked Iyan Karthikeyan to fact-check all that Maridhas had alleged. The 5 questions are on: revenue generated from sand mining, the 2013 revenue figures, the truckload-related information, whether the scam is a ₹60,000 crore scam or a ₹29,200 crore scam as alleged by Maridhas and finally he alleges that the earnings from this scam are shared by the DMK first family, Duraimurugan and the sand mafia involving Karigalan, Pudukottai Ramachandran and Dindigul Rathinam in the ratio 50:30:20.
Maridhas alleges that nearly ₹10,000 crores would have gone to the DMK first family, ₹6000-8000 crores to Duraimurugan, and about ₹1000-2000 crores to the mafia.
(with inputs from Maridhas)
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