6 months ago
2
Students from 2 tribal hamlets wrong the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) person been incapable to spell to schools for a period aft torrential rains near their lone entree way chopped off. The 4 causeways crossed streams feeding the Gunderipallam reservoir were extensively damaged, isolating the settlements.
Vilankombai and Kembanur, inhabited by astir 60 Urali tribal families, unneurotic person astir 30 children studying successful authorities schools astatine Vinoba Nagar and Kongarpalayam, located 7 km and 10 km distant respectively. Both hamlets prevarication heavy wrong the wood down the reservoir and autumn nether the Kongarpalayam Panchayat successful the Thookkanaicken Palayam (T.N. Palayam) Union successful Gobichettipalayam taluk.
The caller downpour washed distant the low-level causeways and damaged the road, cutting disconnected each movement. Education, healthcare, and nationalist organisation services person travel to a standstill, the residents said. The schoolhouse conveyance operated nether the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan’s Transport and Escort Services strategy past ran connected October 7, 2025, aft which students person remained astatine home.
“From October to January, during the rainy season, the schoolhouse conveyance cannot ply, forcing children to enactment home,” said S.C. Natraj, Director of the Sathyamangalam-based NGO Service Unit for Development Activities successful Rural (SUDAR).
With repairs to the damaged causeways improbable successful the adjacent future, villagers person renewed their request for an alternate route. V.P. Gunasekaran, State Committee Member of the Tamil Nadu Tribal People’s Association, said Tiruppur MP K. Subbarayan, who precocious visited the area, had petitioned District Collector S. Kandasamy to make a caller nexus road.
Maadhan, a resident, said the occupation recurs each twelvemonth and that villagers person been battling the concern for generations. “Walking 7 km done dense wood teeming with chaotic animals is risky. At slightest the projected alternate roadworthy should go a world successful our beingness truthful that our children tin enactment connected with the extracurricular world,” helium added.
“The 4-km Kavalur–Pellathur footpath should beryllium upgraded into a motorable roadworthy with a span crossed the watercourse to supply a lasting solution,” Mr. Gunasekaran said, urging the territory medication to enactment connected a warfare footing.
