AIADMK MLA threatens to go to O Panneerselvam camp if no action on quarry

COIMBATORE: An AIADMK MLA of the Sasikala faction today threatened to switch sides to the rebel O Panneerselvam camp if no action was taken against a quarry, where two workers had died.

The workers had died on March 17 after a huge rock fell on them.

"If action is not taken, I will switch over to the O Panneerselvam camp. I have no option as public have put faith on me," R Kanagaraj told reporters after meeting locals who were agitating for closing down the quarry.

The locals also alleged that police and revenue officials had registered false cases that the workers had died accidentally.

Kanagaraj, representing Sulur Assembly constituency, sought immediate intervention of District Collector T N Hariharan, action against erring officials in the mines department and the mine's owner, saying the quarry was more than 400 feet deep and had become a danger zone.

He said State minister Udumalai Radhakrishnan visited him this morning and asked him "not to take any hasty decision which will affect the government."

An official release later said the Collector cancelled the licence given to the quarry owner to mine in 1.65 hectares of land.