COIMBATORE: The road leading to Sholayar, which was previously managed by a private estate, has been handed over to the Valparai Municipality. Officials say the road, in a bad shape for over a decade, will be revamped once it is officially brought under the control of the municipality.
The nearly 3-km stretch was under the control of the Sholayar Estate. This road serves as the main transportation route to areas such as Nallakathu Estate and Mudis, and hundreds of people have been using it as their primary access road.
Although people have repeatedly urged the municipality to repair the road, the municipality administration was unable to carry out any work as the road was under the estate's control.
People has organised various forms of protests to demand repairs, and recently, political organisations jointly staged a protest by planting banana trees on the damaged road.
Officials attached to the Valparai Municipality said the estate management has decided to hand over the entire road to the municipality to facilitate its repair.
An official from the engineering wing of Valparai Municipality said, "This road connects several villages and estates. Considering its importance, there has been ongoing pressure to repair the road. Initially, they (estate administration) said they would hand over half the total width (3.25 metres). However, since a proper road cannot be built with that space, steps were taken to acquire the full road and they agreed to it. After approval from the district collector and the directorate of municipal administration, the road will be brought under municipality’s control. A unique code will then be assigned to the road, followed by floating of a tender, and road maintenance work will begin," the officer explained.
The municipality has also planned to acquire a few more estate roads in the coming months to improve connectivity, the officer added.