Vada Agaram is a small coastal village situated approximately 120 km south of Chennai and 30 km north of Pondicherry in the Marakanam block, Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu. The soil here is very sandy. The conflict began sometime in 1993 when it was discovered that the sand in some areas of Vada Agaram contained high levels of pure silica, a material used mainly for cement grade testing and glass production. The Mining Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu decided to utilise this resource.