Chennai, Jun 4 (IANS): The villagers of Naickenpalayam village in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore district are up in arms against the move of revenue department to open brick kilns that were shut down following a court order.

The villagers are in the process of moving the Madras High Court to file a contempt of court petition.

A recent notification by the revenue department said that the villagers can approach the Periyanaickenpalayam revenue officer or the Coimbatore North revenue Tahsildar within 15 days if they have any objections to opening 17 brick kilns in the area. If there are no responses, permission would be granted.

This infuriated the villagers as a magistrate court had ordered the shutting down of 35 brick kilns in the area following a PIL by the villagers.

Soundarajan, a farmer at Naickenpalayam while speaking to IANS, said, "After our relentless pursuit, the court has ordered shutting down of 35 brick kilns in the area and has disconnected the power connection also. Now 17 of the old brick kiln owners are trying to reopen the kilns by filing a fresh application and the revenue department has issued a notification stating that we depose before the revenue officials within 15 day of receipt of the notification or else permission would be given."

He said that the villagers would file a contempt of court petition in the Madras High court.

Local people are of the opinion that lakhs of litres of ground water would be depleted if brick kilns are allowed to function and the land would turn into a desert.