The charnockite stone was meant for a deity’s statue

The Madras High Court on Friday directed the Industries Secretary and the Joint Director of Geology and Mines in Tiruvannamalai district to file status reports on steps being taken to transport a huge piece of rock from the district to Bengaluru for carving an idol.

A Division Bench of Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and P. Rajamanickam sought the status report from the two officials by February 14 on a public interest litigation petition filed and argued in person by activist advocate P. Rathinam, 71, of Namakkal district.

According to the petitioner, a religious trust based in Bengaluru had obtained permission from the Tamil Nadu government in 2014 to quarry 460 metres of charnockite stone from a hillock situated at Korakottai village in Vandavasi taluk of Tiruvannamalai district.

The purpose of the exercise was to carve out a 64-foot statue of Kothandaramar in Bengaluru. Since such a huge rock could not be transported easily, the trust had engaged the services of a specially-designed truck with nearly 160 wheels.

Further, many residential houses and commercial establishments in the locality had to be demolished to pave the way for transportation of the rock.

Though the trust had promised to compensate property owners, the entire amount was not paid, he alleged.

Stating that he had taken stock of the situation during a personal inspection, the advocate said that a fruitful solution could not be found for the problem despite taking it to the notice of the local Member of the Legislative Assembly as well as Member of Parliament.