Illegal mining on Kannanur Mariamman Temple land alleged – The Hindu

A complaint has been lodged with Omalur police that a temple land was encroached and stone quarrying was done illegally using explosives.

In his complaint, founder of Thiru Thondargal Saba A. Radhakrishnan said that Kannanur Mariamman Temple has land measuring 3.63 acre in survey no 110/1, 1.85 acre in survey number 111/2 and 1.40 acre in survey number 184/2 in Omalur village.

Though the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Trust appointed ‘Thakkar’ for the temple, he did not take charge.

Instead three members of a family were illegally occupying the land for many years as officials failed to initiate action against them or retrieve the land.

The complaint said that on July 22, explosives were used to dug the land in survey number 110/1 for about 15 feet depth and stones worth Rs. 10 lakh were taken.

He said that a complaint was lodged with the Collector who ordered officials to inspect the land and submit a report.

But the Joint Commissioner of HR and CE K.A. Mangayarkarasi did not inspect the land and acted in favour of the encroachers.

Mr. Radhakrishnan wanted action to be taken against the encroachers and also against the officials for failing to act to retrieve the land. “A case need to be registered”, he demanded.