TIRUNELVELI: Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) chief coordinator Seeman on Thursday demanded the state government to repair roads and resume the government bus service to Manjolai hills, stating that college and school students, patients and pregnant women have been stranded without transport facilities for 20 days in the hills. In a statement, Seeman condemned the government alleging that it has been apathetic towards repairing the roads that were damaged during the flood in the southern districts.
"Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Thoothukudi and Kanniyakumari districts were worst-hit by the recent flood. The livelihood of people in thousands of villages were affected due to infrastructure damages. About 3,000 people, mainly tea-estate workers, are residing in Manjolai, Kakkachi, Naalumukku and Oothu areas in Manjolai hills. While the roads to these areas have been in bad condition for the past 10 years, the recent flood completely washed them away. Hence, the Manjolai hills region got disconnected with the plains. Due to this, the college and school students, patients and pregnant women here remain stranded," he said.
The leader further said the vehicle, arranged by the forest department earlier, charged Rs 200 to Rs 400 from the tea-estate workers to take them to the plains and back. "When the residents approached the public works department for the repair of roads, they were directed to approach the forest department. The latter asked them to approach the tea-estate management. Their repeated petitions to the district administration ended in vain," he alleged.
Meanwhile, AIADMK functionaries led by town secretary Ramaiah and deputy district secretary KSR Marimuthu staged a protest in front of the Manimuthar town panchayat office condemning the forest department for not sanctioning the road repair works.