RAMESWARAM: In an anti-climax of sorts, frightened residents of the house at whose backyard a huge ammunition cache was uncovered at Anthoniyarpuram in Thangachimadam coastal hamlet near here, vacated their premises on Tuesday, as even after 21 days of the explosives surfacing no action has been taken by the authorities to remove and defuse them from that place.
The house owner A. Edison and his family members moved out their belongings from their humble dwelling amid growing apprehension in the coastal fishermen's village that the non-removal of the ammunition cache, believed to have been buried there by a major SL Tamil militant group some 30 years ago, was not conducive to the general safety of the community.
The huge cache of ammunition and explosives including TNT explosives, some 250 rounds of bullets, detonators, rocket launchers, land mines, cartridges for light machine guns, medium machine guns and self-loading rifles (SLR) among others, kept neatly packed in boxes, though corroded, was stumbled upon on June 25 when a pit was being dug to construct a septic tank behind Edison's house.
The quantity and variety of ammunition was truly staggering and frightful.
Though the police took control of the explosives and the site is under the constant watch of the security forces, the bulk of the cache has not been moved out yet. A special team of the Bomb detection and disposal squad (BDDS) immediately visited the spot the next day and took a detailed inventory, followed by the visit of the Tiruvaadanai magistrate to inspect the ammunition cache unearthed.
Then, another team of forensic experts from Chennai recently visited Thangachimadam including the deputy director of explosives, who reportedly expressed the view that the land mines could be defused only by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as they were found to have a complex fuse system. This has not only further delayed matters in disposing off the ammunition cache, but also intensified the fears among the locals here.
Explaining the circumstances under which they were now forced to leave their with house with their belongings, Edison said, " after we immediately informed the police of the ammunition cache found while digging a pit for a septic tank, the premises has since come under their control; but even after 21 days, despite the local police showing a sense of urgency no efforts till date has been made to remove these explosives. To continue to live with these explosives is very scary and so we decided to move out of our house."
"The authorities neither removing nor defusing the explosives is also adding to the fears of the other fisher folks households in this colony every passing day; hence police and other concerned authorities should take steps to immediately remove the explosives and take them to a safer place for defusing them," said X. Chinnathambi, secretary of the Federation of Traditional Fishermen here.
