DHARMAPURI: Kottur residents staged a protest attempting to hand over their Aadhaar, ration, and Voter ID cards to officials at the collectorate condemning the district administration and the state government for failure to provide roads to their village.
Around 50 residents from Kottur in Vattuvanahalli panchayat arrived at the collectorate to meet Collector K Santhi and demand an explanation as to why the road to their hamlet has been delayed. However, as police officials deployed outside the collectorate refused them from participating in the grievance meeting, the residents started a protest outside. Some of them also brought their Aadhaar, ration, and Voter ID cards to hand them over to the district administration.
C Gopalan, a resident of Kottur Malai, told TNIE, “For three decades we have been asking for roads. Now the Panchayat Union Middle School in our village is also shut because teachers are not willing to trek 10 km through the forest. Hence, parents enrolled their children at other schools in the district and are living with them working as daily wage labourers.”
He added, “Even when the school was active, teachers would arrive at 12 pm and leave before 2 pm. If the district administration had provided roads, we would have had teachers arriving here on time.”
R Mathappan, another resident, said, “Healthcare is also denied to over 150 families here. It is impossible to bring our sick and elderly to the PHC in Belrampatti. We have lost our family members due to snake bites as we cannot provide first- aid.”
The protesters stated, “The Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had provided a NOC for the road and the state government also sanctioned Rs 2 crore for its construction, but there is no progress. So, we want an explanation from the collector. However, police denied us entry.”
Police sources said, “The collectorate has a severe lack of space especially in the auditorium. On average, including officials, there will be about 200-250 people in the hall. So, allowing more people will cause overcrowding. So, it is a protocol to only allow 5-7 people inside.”
When revenue department officials were questioned about the road, they said, “The roads to Kottur hamlet are in their final phase with the Union government. After the proper procedures are completed, the road will be constructed at the earliest.”