KRISHNAGIRI: Residents of over 15 villages in Kodakarai surrounding villages in Doddamanju panchayat have demanded the Krishnagiri district administration to merge them with nearby Bettamugilalam panchayat or to create separate panchayat in Krishnagiri district. Citing distance as a reason, they said the Doddamanju panchayat is over 75 km from Kodakarai, whereas Bettamugilalam is only around 15 km away from their villages.
Doddamanju panchayat in Anchetti block has 42 villages, in which 26 villages are in the surroundings of Doddamanju and 16 villages near Kodakarai are about 75 km away from Doddamanju inside forest area.
Speaking to TNIE, G Deepa, a resident of Kodakarai and an Accredited Social Health (ASHA) worker said, “There are over 2,500 people residing in the 16 surrounding villages of Kodakarai with over 700 ration card holders. Higher education continues to remain a distant dream for many students as the village, which has two Panchayat Union Primary Schools and one Government High School, is inaccessible due to lack of transportation facilities. Some students are staying in a hostel near Thalli and Dharmapuri to continue their education, while a few have dropped out.”
Adding that the block office at Anchetti is about 60 km from Kodakarai while the panchayat office at Doddamanju, is about 75 km away she urged that Kodakarai should either be separated to create a new panchayat or be merged with the nearby Bettamugilalam panchayat.
Demanding a Health Sub Centre (HSC) in the village while highlighting difficulties in accessing transport facilities, Deepa said, “We have only one bus facility which is operated by the forest department, for which, we need to pay Rs 80 for a single trip (one way) to Denkanikottai from our village, which many of us cannot afford to pay for.”
Another villager R Azhagappa (46) added that due to his poor financial situation, he was unable to send his daughter to school but sent his son to Dharmapuri district to complete his education by staying in a government hostel.
K Mallan (40) of Kodakarai Nagar demanded job opportunities and said the rural development department had sent a proposal last year to make Kodakarai a separate panchayat, but no action has been taken so far.
Health department sources told TNIE that Thalli MLA T Ramachandran has already given a letter to create a HSC at Kodakarai, which is currently under process. If it was opened, people would benefit. Krishnagiri Collector C Dinesh Kumar said that necessary action will be taken after checking with the respective departments.