DHARMAPURI: Visitors to the hilltop village of Malaiyoor, in Pikli panchayat, will at least for a while forget all their sorrows: such is the serene and blissful way nature presents herself there. Ironically, the villagers themselves are anything but happy, as they lack many basic facilities.
The 200 families there have been waiting for decades for bus service, a high school and a sub-health centre.
It took them five decades of struggle to get a road to the village, which was laid recently, said K Kamaraj, a CPM cadre from Malaiyoor.
But bus services are yet to begin. Because of this, children trek 6 km to their high school, and many villagers walk from Malaiyoor to Gandhi Nagar at the foot of the hill and back.
On weekends, hundreds of devotees from Dharmapuri and Salem visit the Gopalsamy Temple in the village. They are forced to hire private cabs. “After we submitted numerous petitions, TNSTC officials made a visit to the village, but bus service is yet to begin. For those of us with motorbikes, things are not that difficult, but for students, it a daily ordeal,” Kamaraj told Express.
“We have a middle school with 110 students. But children go to Papparapatti to attend high schools and higher secondary schools. There are now 34 students who walk to their schools,” he added.
He appealed the Education Department to upgrade the middle school to a high school and construct a permanent building for it.
Pachaiammal, another villager, said the village badly needed a sub-health centre.
Now they go to Pikli or Papparapatti for medical help, she added.
Besides the villagers, there are also hundreds of devotees who visit the Malaiyoor Gopalsamy temple.
“There are no amenities there including toilets or a waiting hall. The panchayat should pay the some attention,” said devotees.