Residents of Mullandram village panchayat, mostly farmers, blocked Arani-Mullandram Main Road and seized three buses, including a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) one, on Friday during their protest against a new granite quarry near the village.
The police said that around 9.40 a.m., the protesters blocked the road after blue metal was brought to the village to lay a road to transport granite blocks once the quarry starts functioning in the coming weeks. “After a long struggle, we shut down a similar quarry some 15 years ago. Now, another quarry has come up,” said E. Jayaprakash, a long-time resident of the village.
Agricultural areas such as Gurukulam, Kittankudisai, Mettukudisai, Alanthangal, and Krishnavaram are part of Mullandram village panchayat. In most of the 1,800 hectares, paddy and groundnuts are cultivated twice a year. Residents said work on the quarry had been in progress for more than a fortnight. Petitions had been given to Tiruvannamalai Collector B. Murugesh on August 28, during the weekly grievances meeting at the Collectorate, asking him to cancel the quarry’s licence.
