Urging the forest department to carry out repair works to the damaged forest road, so that operation of government bus service could resume, over 300 people from Thengumarahada blocked the Sathyamangalam – Gobichettipalayam Main Road in front of the District Forest Office at Sathyamangalam here on Friday.
Thengumarahada, Alli Moyar and Kallampalayam villages are located along the River Moyar in Kotagiri taluk on the northern slopes of the Nilgiris. The villages can be reached by passing through the 25 km road through the core area of the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve.
Two Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation Limitedbuses, one from Mettupalayam and the other from Kotagiri are the only public mode of transportation available for the people to reach up to the river. Also, they depend on pick up vans, lorries and jeeps for going to Bhavani Sagar and Sathyamangalam.
During flash floods in the river, people could not cross it and they were demanding an overbridge across the river.
Recently, rains had damaged the road beyond repairs making it non-motorable. Since water flows through the forest streams, a bus was struck three days ago after which bus service did not resume.
On Friday, villagers arrived in four lorries and staged a road block. They said that citing poor condition of the roads, buses were not operated for the past three days causing inconvenience to them.
They also said that since Bhavani Sagar Reservoir was full, water spread to many areas making it difficult for drivers to operate other vehicles. They wanted potholes to be closed and repair works to be carried to the roads so that bus service resumes.
District Forest Officer (Sathyamangalam) P.G. Arunlal, police and revenue officials held talks with the protesters, who told them that a proposal has been sent to the government and repair work will begin soon. The protest was withdrawn after an hour.
