Thanjavur: In a novel punishment meted out to sand smugglers, the Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) of Thanjavur Sub Division ordered four persons, who illegally lifted sand from Vennar in bullock-carts, to remove an acre each of the banned Seemai Karuvelam trees.

On a tip-off that some persons were illegally smuggling sand from Vennar, RDO C Suresh ordered Tahsildar R Gurumurthy to take action. Subsequently, led by Gurumurthy, a team of revenue officials visited the Vennar bank and inspected the area. There they stumbled upon four sand laden bullock-carts. Upon enquiry, it was discovered that the sand had been illegally lifted from Vennar. Following this, the four bullock-carts along with the riders namely Mahalingam (50), Govindarajan (51), Murugesan (51), all hailing from Karanthai, and Mahendran (30), a resident of Punnainallur Mariammankoil area, were taken to the taluk office.

RDO Suresh, who conducted the enquiry, ordered the four sand smugglers to remove an acre each of the banned Seemai Karuvelam trees. The RDO also warned that if they did not agree to this, cases would be registered and a fine would be slapped for illegally lifting sand from Vennar. As the four agreed to the proposal, they were allowed to go along with the bullocks after leaving the carts behind.