PERAMBALUR: A section of residents of Arasadikadu village in Poolambadi panchayat in the district who have been suffering from lack of proper roads for over 30 years staged a road blockade that lasted 7 hours in the village on Monday.
They were condemning the actions of a resident who refuses to give up his patta for laying new road and blocked his land rendering the route unusable for vehicles and forcing the villagers including students to walk by foot. Over 170 families reside in the village and they mostly rely on agriculture and cattle rearing for livelihood.
They have to travel to Poolambadi which is 7 kilometres away from their village for most of their needs. However, there is no proper road facility to reach Poolambadi forcing people to go through their fields making it is very difficult to transport agricultural products and their produce through the village, said residents.
Despite this, a few people got together and handed over their fields in the route used to go to Poolambadi to the government for laying a new road. A certain villager allegedly refused to give up his patta and blocked his land due to which they are unable to go for daily work for the past few weeks , said villagers.
Speaking to TNIE, G Arunkumar, a resident said, "We are left with no other option but to park our vehicles near his land and walk to our houses." Another resident P Subramani said, "We struggle to transport our produce to the market from our fields. Left with no other option, many people stay at home instead of going to work. Due to lack of transportation, we struggle to send our children to school."
Since, the road block, the government bus has ceased coming to the village, affecting school students as well, said villagers. Frustrated by this, hundreds of villagers staged a road roko demanding a proper road to their village.
They only dispersed after Perambalur RDO S Gokul and police led by DSP A Palanisamy negotiated with the protestors and promised to take action. When contacted, Perambalur Sub Collector S Gokul told TNIE, " On Monday, I visited the place where the issue took place. We have many ways to solve this problem. So, we will take action soon."
