The residents of Poonjolai Nagar, a small village near Sillarahalli in Tamil Nadu’s Dharmapuri, rely on the outside world for most services including education and emergency healthcare. But while their village is just 2 km from the main road, residents must walk the dirt road connecting the two, come rain or shine. Their demand for an asphalt road has gone unheard for the past 70 years. Residents say that nothing has changed for them all these years, despite thier approaching several government offices, including that of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.
Poonjolai Nagar has three schools - two private and one government-run, a small clinic, and a clothing retailer showroom. While the primary source of income in the area is agriculture, there are some who must travel outside the village every day for work. But the residents fear walking on the stretch, as rains can make it slushy and dangerous to walk on, especially for the elderly and pregnant women. "People have to be very careful as on one side is a stream that occasionally flows, and the other side is clay land on which paddy is cultivated. One wrong step could cause someone to fall hard,” says Dr Sangeetha, who hails from the village. When a person needs to be taken to a hospital, they are carried on a makeshift structure as ambulances aren’t of much use here, she adds.
"Everyone has to walk this dirt road or use their vehicles. But when a car passes on this road, two-wheelers and the bypassers have to wait until the car moves ahead to continue," says Sangeetha. She also adds that traversing the road on a vehicle can be as dangerous as walking on it, especially for patients or elderly people who must cross it regularly for health checkups outside. Dr Sangeetha also tells TNM that they had earlier approached the owners of the surrounding land for permission to use their land for an asphalt road, however, they have been delaying the process.
Arjun Shankar, a Chennai-based social activist who has also made several representations to the government regarding the same issue, says they received a reply. The reply, dated September 12, states that the Pappireddipatti Block Development Officer (BDO) and Assistant Engineer (AE) conducted an inspection. "During the inspection, the owner was asked to transfer his land to Kadathur union panchayat, which he agreed to. The actions to put up a road will be taken after the land is transferred to Kadathur panchayat,” reply reads.
"But to get the land from the private landowners, they (government) have asked the local people to initiate the talk with land owners," says Arjun.
Besides, as per the reply, the government has classified the 2-km stretch into three sections — the first 500 metres comes under private property, while the next 795 metres is classified as odai poramboke (unassessed land belonging to the government), and the last 255 metres as ‘vandi pathai’, which is traditionally meant for carts. This means, the land that can be redone for the road will only come up to just about 0.5 km of the total 2 km.
“Our villagers have been demanding a 2-km road for almost seven decades. But all we have received are responses saying the road cannot be laid because one part of the odai porambokku is adjacent to the river, in which I have never seen water,” says Arivu, another Poonjolai Nagar resident. The residents demand immediate action to fix the road, as well as officials’ direct involvement in mediation with the private parties that own a section of the land in question.