The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday ordered notice to the authorities on a public interest litigation petition that sought a direction to construct a permanent road to connect Kootapparai with Nallurkadu near Kodaikanal. The distance between the villages was 2.5 km.
A Division Bench of Justices T.S. Sivagnanam and S. Ananthi sought response from the authorities on the petition filed by M. Chelliah of Kodaikanal. The petitioner said that some of the landowners had agreed to give a part of their lands for the construction of the road.
The petitioner said that around 20 families were residing in Kootapparai and Nallurkadu had a population of around 600. The villagers were dependent on agriculture and they were engaged by the owners of agricultural lands in the area.
Kootapparai lacked basic amenities and to buy groceries the villagers had to come to Nallurkadu. In the absence of proper connectivity between the two villages, the residents of Kootapparai faced hardship, particularly during medical emergencies as ambulances could not reach Kootapparai from Nallurkadu, he said.