Violence by sand smuggler go unabated

Chennai: Violence by sand smugglers continue unabated and the latest incident was the blatant bid to kill the tahsildar of Illuppur taluk In Pudukkottai district, Deivanayaki, and her assistants a couple of days back at Varaiapatti area by smashing her car with a truck, opposition leaders in the State alleged on Monday.

Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswam, in a statement said that smuggling of sand and minerals and cutting of trees had become synonymous with DMK rule, under which whistleblowers and enforcement officials like the police and revenue department staff faced the risk of being attacked or killed.

On those lines, a couple of days back there was a bid to use a truck to run over the Illuppur tahsildar, about which the government did nothing to bring the culprits to book but only ensured that the news about the incident did not appear in the mainstream media, he said.

He recalled a few earlier attacks on officials by the sand mining mafia like the 2023 incident in which the village administrative officer of Morapunadu in Thoothukudi district, Lourdes Francis, was hacked to death at his office to substantiate his charge that such attacks had become common in the State.

PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss, in a statement, said that the mining mafia rammed the truck into the car in which the tahsildar and her assistants were travelling. Then again, when the truck reversed to ram the car once again, the car driver swerved the vehicle and saved the occupants.

Pointing out that there had been no action against those involved in the incident and no arrests had been made, Ramadoss urged the government to deal with sand smugglers with an iron hand and crackdown on the trade all over the State.