Videographing of roadwork in Tiruvannamalai ordered

TIRUVANNAMALAI: Collector B Murugesh ordered video recording of the laying of a 1.8-km road between two tribal villages in Jawadhu Hills, on Tuesday to set the record straight following a controversy that erupted over the work.

The issue pertains to the road, which was laid by a DMK contractor to connect Oorgoundanur and Guddur in the former panchayat in Jamunamaudur panchayat union. The contractor was a resident of nearby Kallathur panchayat. Though the work was yet to be completed, his political rivals from the same village uploaded videos of a woman describing the poor quality of work done on the stretch, on social media.

Collector Murugesh told DT Next that “due to political enmity, the road was first broken up with an iron rod and then the woman was asked to tear it up and talk about the poor quality. When officials contacted her, she explained the whole episode and hence we planned to shoot the video to reveal the truth.”

An official on condition of anonymity said, “the picture was uploaded when the work was halfway through and the bills for the work are yet to be passed. But, what surprised everybody was how the information reached the BJP (BJP state president Annamalai tweeted on the issue), when the parties involved in this issue belonged to the ruling dispensation in the state and its alliance partner.”

A rural development department official in Tiruvannamalai said, “Though rural roads are usually only around 26 mm thick, this road is 28 mm thick. It is used mostly by two wheelers and occasionally by tractors.”

The social media post prompted two officials from the RD Department to check the road thoroughly to confirm the quality. However, after Annamalai’s tweet, a three-member team from Chennai DRDA inspected the spot on Monday and gave a clean chit to its quality after traversing the entire stretch.”

“However, as the truth is known only to locals and some technical officials, we decided to videograph the work and upload it on social media so that it will reach the same audience who viewed the earlier damaging video,” Murugesh concluded.