HC restrains authorities from taking sand from Vaigai river for road project

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has restrained the State Highways Department from taking sand from Vaigai river for the development of the road project connecting Arapalayam and Samayanallur in Madurai.

A Division Bench of Justices G. R. Swaminathan and B. Pugalendhi was hearing the public interest litigation petition filed by activist Vaigai Rajan of Madurai who sought a direction to the authorities to restore the Vaigai river to its original position.

The petitioner said the State Highways Department had proposed to lay an 8 km long two-lane road with a width of 10.5 meters along the northern bank of the Vaigai river from near the Kamarajar Bridge in Arapalayam till Samayanallur on NH-44.

In the guise of road formation, the river has been encroached upon and the soil has been illegally mined. In 2019, as a part of Smart City Scheme, the banks of the Vaigai river were taken by the authorities for laying roads. This had already reduced the width of the Vaigai river, he said.

Under the jurisdiction of Madurai Corporation, several roads were damaged and were not in a good condition to drive. Without repairing the damaged roads, it was not necessary for the formation of new roads by encroaching upon the Vaigai river, he said.

He sought a direction to restrain the authorities from carrying out any kind of works related to the formation of road in the Vaigai river under the project. He also sought an appropriate action be taken against those involved in the illegal mining of sand from the Vaigai river.