The Human Rights Protection Centre (HRPC) here has alleged that illegal garnet quarrying is rampant in Tirunelveli district despite the order of the National Green Tribunal prohibiting quarrying. Advocate S. Vanchinathan, Deputy Secretary of the HRPC, told the media in a press meet on Thursday that a fact-finding team comprising seven advocates had visited Tuticorin, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts from August 14 to 18. The team estimated the loss caused to the State’s exchequer owing to illegal garnet quarrying at Rs.2.5 lakh crore. “Sixty-five per cent of the garnet was quarried from Tirunelveli district, but the State is conducting an inquiry only in Tuticorin. The inquiry seems like an eyewash,” Mr. Vanchinathan told the reporters. The team further alleged that the politically influential illegal quarry operators were creating communal disharmony in Tuticorin, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts. The miscreants should be detained under the Goondas Act and peace meetings conducted in the districts, they suggested. The team said a special investigation team should be constituted to receive complaints from the public and order a probe into the involvement of politicians and government officials in the illegal quarrying activities. The Supreme Court should monitor the investigation as in the 2G spectrum case. “65 per cent of garnet was quarried from Tirunelveli district, but the State is conducting inquiry only in Tuticorin”