Coimbatore: The Special Committee formed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the South Zone, began examining the Thadagam area on Saturday to assess the level of damage caused by illegal brick kiln units.
The committee consists of coimbatore collectors and each of the Tamil Authority of the Nadu Environmental Impact Assessment, the Tamil Nadu pollution control board and the Department of Geology and mining.
Because as many as 186 illegal brick kilns were closed in the Thadagam area after NGT took Suo Motu’s awareness of the exploitation of natural resources.
The district government took steps to close the kiln after the High Court ordered them to stop the operation in March.
When the Kiln owner approached HC which was looking for a living, the court considered the unit to be illegal, which led to the closing of the unit.
The North Income Division officer Ravichandran, who led the team on behalf of the collector, said that inspections would be carried out for the next two days, after that the committee would send a report.
The unit operated for several years without permission, said S Ganesh, an activist.
“Falling in Western Ghats, this is an ecological sensitive zone that has an elephant corridor.
But officials in the income and mining departments allow illegal operations after colluding with brick kiln owners, which causes mineral exploitation of crores rupees,” he said.
The NGT panel assesses damage caused by the brick kiln industry
