Author: Kumar Chellappan
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: September 17, 2012
URL: http://dailypioneer.com/nation/95005-daksha-haunting-karuna-a-sons.html

Muthuvel Karunanidhi, the DMP chief, has an aversion to anything connected with epics of Hinduism. He does not lose a single opportunity to ridicule and taunt the Hindu Gods. At the peak of the agitation against the demolition of Rama Sethu, the rock structure believed to be built by Lord Rama at Palk Satraits, for the construction of Sethu Samudram Shipping Channel, Karunanidhi made fun of various Hindu organisations asking them in which college did Lord Rama study engineering.

 Well, Daksha, a character from  a Hindu epic is haunting the Karunanidhi clan. Daksha, is the son of Lord Brahma, the creator. But the Daksha giving sleepless nights to Karunidhi, his son Alagiri (Union Minister for Fertilisers) and Durai Dayanidhi (Alagiri’s son and Karunanidhi’s grandson) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by the Madras Institute of Technology, alma mater of former President APJ Abdul Kalam.

 The Government of Tamil Nadu has deployed a Daksha UAV to find out hoarded granites and the illegal quarries in the district of Madurai. According to an initial report submitted by former district collector U Sagayam to the Government, illegal quarrying in the district has cost the state more than `16,000 crore.

 The companies involved in the quarrying included Olympus Granites, allegedly owned by Durai Dayanidhi. The alleged quarrying took place during 2006 to 2011 when the State was ruled by Karunanidhi.  Union Minister Alagiri, his elder son by his second wife Dayalu Ammal, was a law unto himself in Madurai during 2006 to 2011.

 The probe by the teams constituted by the district collector has found that out of 175 granite quarries in the district, 94 had violated various norms by destroying waterbodies, encroachement of private and Government lands and illicit mining from Government as well as private lands.

 The Daksha flew over areas which were inaccessible in normal circumstances. The high-tech camera onboard the UAV sent high resolution pictures of the landscape to the MIT team which deciphered  details about granites hoarded and illegal quarries.

 Enthused by the results, the district administration has imported three Laser Distance Surveying Meters from the UK which will be integrated to the UAV. The LDSM, a kind of Third Eye, will find out the exact level of quarrying done by the companies inviolved in the illegal quarrying.

 The laser beams emitted by the LDSM will assessthe depth and width of all the pits in the quarried areas. One of the officials involved in the investigation told this newspaper that the magnitude of illegal quarrying could be more than `40,000 crore.