Military personnel demand return of encroached panchami lands

Uniformed personnel from Indian Army and the Border Security Force (BSF) marched upon the Madurai District Collector’s office here on Thursday to demand the immediate closure of stone quarries they claim were operating on their ancestral lands and destroying the local ecosystem.

The soldiers, hailing from the Kallikudi block—specifically the villages of Kallanai, Achangulam, Thumbakulam Pudur, Nedungulam, and Olagani—joined a grassroots movement that has now surpassed 100 days of continuous agitation. Their primary grievance targets the alleged illegal encroachment of government poramboke lands, river channels, and vital waterbodies.

“We who protect the nation cannot protect our own village,” one soldier stated during an address to the media. “We are standing at the borders to keep the country safe, but we cannot stand by while our agriculture is decimated. We have returned from our posts to stand together, regardless of caste or religion, to save our homes,” they added.

The controversy centred on the ‘illegal’ issuance of quarrying permits on Panchami lands—land historically reserved for the Scheduled Castes—and plots assigned to landless farmers, they alleged.

Further, the protesting soldiers alleged that the current DMK government has permitted the destruction of lands meant for the poor and marginalised.

Beyond land ownership, the environmental impact has reached a breaking point. Protesters claimed the quarries have physically blocked the natural course of the Gundar River, effectively cutting off the water supply for local farmers and causing a loss of revenue to the state exchequer amounting to several crores of rupees.

The soldiers issued a ultimatum to the district authorities: “If the quarries are not shuttered, they intend to escalate their protest by boycotting upcoming elections and staging a high-profile demonstration in New Delhi.”

The protesters warned that they would descend into the deep pits of the quarries themselves as a form of direct action.