An RTO order to remove a dam on a private estate near Manjur that is blocking the water flow of a stream has not been obeyed.

The District Collector has been petitioned to take strict action against the detractors. Manjur and its surroundings have many private tea estates. Some estate owners of Manjur are illegally constructing buildings and laying roads with earth moving equipment without government permission.

There is a private tea estate at Devarshola near Manjur, which has a stream running through it. A dam 50 feet high and 100 feet wide has been constructed across this stream by the estate management.

Some social activists have petitioned the Nilgiris District Collector J Innocent Divya to remove this dam. Following this, the RTO, D Suresh went there and did a spot inspection. He too ordered the estate management to raze the dam and remove the debris, but no action has been taken so far.

Social activists said: “The Supreme Court has ordered that no construction across water bodies should be done without the civic authorities’ permission. The estate owners have defied this order and built the dam.

“This has affected the farmers of Keelkaikatti, Begumpallam and Mullli villages. The demolition order was given based on their complaints through the RTO, but the estate owners have ignored it. So the Collector must now take strict action against the estate owners,” they demanded.