72 yrs post freedom, hamlet gets road

Nearly 72 years after Independence, Pudurnadu, a tribal hamlet, abutting Alangayam in Vellore received its first ever motorable road recently.

In all these seven decades, travelling to and from Pudurnadu would be a back breaking trip for the people. The worst happens during the rainy days as the entire area would be cut off from the Vellore district, the lone major town nearby.

“Even during any medical emergency, we have to take the only available bumpy stretch to reach Alangayam and then Vellore,” said the tribal residents, adding “ambulances too can’t reach our area.”

While Pudurnadu residents were heaving a sigh of relief, Vellore Collector SA Raman revealed that by the end of next month the construction of the road connecting Nellivasalnadu and Singarapettai would also be completed.

“While a single lane carriageway has been laid between Pudurnadu and Nellivasalnadu for 13.9 km at a cost of Rs 4.73 crore received under the Scheme Component Pooled Assigned Revenue (SCPAR) from the Rural Development Department, for the other 11.50 km stretch to connect Nellivasalnadu and Singarapettai, Rs 4.06 crore has been received under the State Balance Growth Fund from the State Planning Commission and the road laying is expected to be completed by June this year,” Raman told DT Next. “The first stretch has been completed with funds from the Rural Development Department the second stretch is being undertaken with funds from the State Planning Commission,” he added.

This road was a long pending dream of the tribals as the single-track mud footpath they used to commute would turn completely risky during rainy days. Adding to the woes will be the flow from the jungle streams, which would be in spate. “The road will help us get medical aid during emergencies as earlier the lack of road facility prevented us from reaching the Pudurnadu PHC,” said Kumaran, a tribal.

“The new road will now enable us to take our produce to the market at Singarapettai comfortably as otherwise we used to suffer loss during the monsoon,” said Krishnan, another resident.

“Locals prefer Singarapettai as it is their traditional market and not Tirupattur for selling farm produces like paddy, groundnut, banana and tapioca,” Raman added.

When asked whether the district administration would provide a similar road facility to tribals in the Anaicut block, who were forced to carry sick patients in ‘dholies’ (this paper carried a report on the issue a couple of weeks ago), Raman said, “Plans are in pipeline to lay a 7-km road to Peenjamandai, located on the hills coming under Anaicut panchayat union, at a cost of Rs 3 crore, but clearance for the project from the Forest Department is awaited.”

“The Pudurnadu tribals already have the required width for laying the road whereas in the Peenjamandai stretch, Forest Department has been requested to give an additional 1 metre land as we need 3.75 metre width of land to lay a motorable track,” Raman added.