Environmental activists in Tiruppur have urged the district administration to ensure coordination between the Department of Geology and Mining and the Police Department to curtail purported illegal excavation of minerals from quarries.Functionaries of Tamil Nadu Farmers’ Protection Association, Tamil Nadu Environmental Protection Movement, and Anti-Illegal Quarry Movement alleged that despite interception of three lorries transporting minerals on Thursday (June 11) by the Department of Mines without trip sheet in Dharapuram limits, no police case was registered.Expressing concern, R. Satish Kumar, Coordinator, Legal Awareness Wing, Tamil Nadu Farmers Protection Association, and R.S. Mukhilan, Tamil Nadu Environmental Protection Movement, said the State Government could generate revenue in excess of ₹ 1 lakh crore per year, by taking over the quarries and operating them.Based on a complaint by these organisations, the district administration had, on Thursday, held a hearing involving a quarry at Kuttapalayam in Kangayam block, to finalise ₹2.83 crore fine imposed on it for reportedly excavating illegally 65,570 cubic meters of minerals in excess from an area that was not in the mining plan, using explosives. Permission was granted to operate only in an area of ​​4.97 hectares.If action is taken against all of those quarries that indulge in illegal excavation of minerals across the State, a major portion of the State’s debt could be cleared, they explained.At a recent meeting in Chennai, owners of quarries and crushing units were said to have acknowledged that demand-supply imbalance was the cause of the violations.According to them, Tamil Nadu requires about 5.25 lakh units of construction stones and minerals daily, but the production capacity of government-sanctioned quarries hovers around only 1.2 lakh units.They sought to drive home the point that demand for M-sand had increased after closure of 27 sand quarries during November 2023, and that the shortage was accentuated further as new quarry permits were not issued in proportion to the demand subsequently. They cautioned that if the quarries involved in violations are closed, the prices of construction materials will rise further. Published - June 12, 2026 11:06 pm IST