Madurai district police have registered over 20 cases and arrested 45 persons so far

The Tamil Nadu Government has posted John Louis as Special Officer, in the rank of District Revenue Officer, to oversee the survey and assessment of granite quarries, now under way, in Madurai district. District Collector Anshul Mishra, who is heading the revenue team in inspecting the quarries and monitoring the progress on a daily basis, said on Tuesday that Mr. Louis, who was earlier serving in Villupuram district, would primarily oversee the surveys being carried out in the granite quarries and the assessments being made by the team members.

District Collector Anshul Mishra has submitted an interim report on the inspection of 175 quarries by 18 teams to the State government, officials said.

The volume, in terms of granite quarrying and monetary angle, which was allegedly carried out in an illegal way by many granite operators for the last one or two decades in Melur taluk, had been unravelled after former Madurai Collector U. Sagayam’s report got leaked to the media.

Scrutiny reveals plenty of alleged violations

At least five water bodies appear to have been destroyed by granite quarry operators. This is the finding from the teams which are in the process of inspecting the granite quarries for alleged violations in Madurai district till Wednesday. Based on the former Collector U. Sagayam’s report on the deviations allegedly committed by granite companies in mining activities, the officials got into the act of carrying out an inspection.