Six cases filed against granite firms in Madurai: Collector

Amid demands from opposition partiesfor allowing IAS officer U Sagayam, appointed by Madras HighCourt to probe illegal granite quarrying, to take up the probe, district administration today said six cases had been filed against eight persons in respect of granite blocks stored without proper permission.
Cases had been filed against P Palanisamy, P Selvi, Sureshkumar and five others belonging to PRP Granites, a leading export firm here. The stones had been stocked without proper permission in patta lands in Tirumogur village, District Collector L Subramanian said in a release here today.
Besides, 14 cases had been filed against P K Selvaraj, Rams Exports, Sri Meenakshi exports, and P R P Exports for stacking stones in Thirvathavur, Keezhaiyur and other villages. The cases are pending in magistrate courts.

He said the probe by Sagayam would begin once the government gave the clearance.
Incidentally, Sagayam as the then Madurai District Collector had submitted a report over the alleged irregularities in granite mining and put the estimated loss to the ex-chequer at over Rs 16,000 crore.
The High Court on September 11 appointed Sagayam to probethe multi-crore illegal granite quarrying, but the state government filed a review petition contesting the order.
The High Court, however, imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 onthe state government for not relieving Sagayam to probe the mining scam.