3 villages to boycott polls if Urapakkam to Nallambakkam road not repaired

The villagers have decided to host a black flag in front of their houses and to not allow any political party representatives enter their villages.

Sources said that Urapakkam-Nallampakkam road stretches around 14 km and it was last repaired in 1999. After that, the officials did not undertake any maintenance works on the road, he added.

However, sources also revealed that of the total road as 6.4 km falls under the Forest Department, they do not allow revenue officials to repair the road even if the municipality comes forward.

Villagers of Kumili, Keerapakkam, and Nallampakkam in the past several years have been filing petitions with the concerned officials but their petition has not been acted upon. The road has become unusable even by MTC, SETC buses, “The office-goers and the students to travel to different places are forced to spend their money on other means of transport,” said a resident of Keerapakkam.

The villagers in the past have resorted to different kinds of protest including eating food served on Urapakkam-Nallampakkam road and hundreds have sent e-post to the President of India to take action into the issue.

The villagers said that during every election, the politicians come for canvassing with a promise to repair the road but as soon as they win the elections, the road remains the same.

As nothing has worked, the villagers said that they would vote for NOTA, if any authorities force them.

When contacted Chengalpet Revenue Divisional Officer Muthu Vadivel said that they have asked the concerned departments to look into the issue and take steps to solve the problem. He also said that they would try to convince the villagers to vote in the upcoming elections.