COIMBATORE: After all the roads were found to lead to nowhere, the tribal students and youth of Arakadavu and Moonukuttai near Karamadai have decided to take things into their own hands. With the villagers having trouble accessing the rest of the district, as there are no roads connecting them, the youngsters have now started digging a path down the hill themselves.
While the Collector has assured that action would be taken on the issue after the election, the Forest Department has repeatedly denied permission as the places fall under reserve forest area.
All of Arakadavu's people are tribals, while a mix of tribals and people from other communities occupy Moonukuttai.
The two villages fall under the Velliyankadu panchayat and collectively house 500 people. Their primary occupation is agriculture. Located atop a hill, life for these people has never been close to easy.
For over a decade, the villagers have had to struggle through slurry mud paths on a daily basis.
There is no alternative. Even the monthly ration supply is dropped off at the foot of the hills. The people then have to walk down the hill - a distance of 4.5 km - to collect them.
This is the routine for people going to school, college and work, says Sathish Kumar. What more, the condition of the path was made worse by the rains last month, he adds.
They saw the worst effects of it during an emergency last week. A woman from Moonukuttai had fallen ill. She was being taken to the hospital in a jeep, the only form of transportation available to them. On the way down, the jeep's wheel got stuck in the mud at a hairpin bend.
All their effort to retrieve it was in vain. The woman then had to walk till she could reach another jeep, narrates Natarajan, a villager.
Though they have taken this up with various officials, no action has been taken on this yet. Hence, the villagers decided to boycott the local body polls until their demand for a road is met.
Natarajan points out that the Forest Department has denied permission for laying a road for the villages are in the reserve forest. Hence, they are having to take it up with the Collector, he adds.
Collector K Rajamani said that proper action would be taken on their grievance after the local body polls are completed.
