Girl’s request to build a tar road to her hamlet in STR evokes response from govt, work begins

ERODE: A Class XII girl student's request to the Erode district administration to repair and tar a road from Bejalatti to Ittarai, a tribal hamlet located in the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, has evoked a positive response after 10 months of waiting.

District collector Rajagopal Sunkara on Sunday performed the 'bhoomi puja' for the road work in the presence of the girl.M Archana appealed to the Erode district collector on August 21, 2024 for a tar road to the tribal hamlet in Thalavadi taluk. Archana is currently pursuing nursing.She made the request to the collector when he visited the tribal hamlet as part of the 'Ungalai Thedi, Ungal Ooril' initiative to gather petitions from the residents.

"Archana, who was in Class XII, came to me with a request for a tar road," Rajagopal Sunkara told TOI. The student narrated the challenges the villagers faced due to the absence of the road. Highway department officials noted that the tar road had been laid 25 years ago but had deteriorated completely for various reasons.Archana and her sister-in-law, Kalaivani, told the collector that Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) didn’t operate buses to their hamlet, Ittarai, situated four km away from Bejalatti, or any other hamlets in the STR region during rainy season.

They told him that many people, particularly women, had to abandon their higher education due to the lack of bus services. Kalaivani said she was one such person who had given up her desire to study more, after finishing Class XII, due to the lack of buses.The district collector secured approval from forest department and Rs 3.88 crore in funding from the state govt for the road project. The road will cover four km between Bejalatti and Ittarai, connecting other tribal hamlets such as Thadasalatti and Eratti. The collector noted that tar roads have been built in other tribal hamlets in Thalavadi taluk. They include roads between Konkadai and Thalakkarai (at a cost of Rs 74 lakh), Dhimbam and Mavanatham (at Rs 82 lakh), Dhimbam and Kalidhimbam (at Rs 1.08 crore) and Dhimbam-Thalavadi-Ramaranai road (at Rs 51.45 crore). The villagers of Bejalatti and Ittarai hamlets expressed their gratitude to the district collector and Archana for their efforts.