The Forest Department has sought a nod from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to provide 3.2 hectares of reserve forest (RF) for the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) to lay a bitumen road in Alleri hillock near Vellore.
Accompanied by S. Kalanidhi, District Forest Officer (DFO), Vellore, Collector P. Kumaravel Pandian inspected tribal hamlets in Alleri hillock, a distance of 5.1 km from the foothills, on Thursday to assess the basic facilities that are required for inhabitants in these hamlets. “Permission has been sought online. Once approved, the road will be laid within a year by DRDA,” M. Senthil, Executive Engineer (EE), DRDA (Vellore), told The Hindu.
Thursday’s initiative comes after a 35-year-old tribal man was carried on foot from Attukaalkollai tribal hamlet in Alleri hillock to a hospital, which was 17 km away, after he was bitten by a snake and died on the way on July 20. Prior to the incident, an 18-month-old baby girl in the hillock died in the same way on May 28.
Forest officials said that 6.4 hectares of revenue land have been identified in Sivanandhapuram village at the foothills of Kurumalai in Anaicut taluk of Vellore in exchange for forest land. Around 13 trees on the hillock will be chopped down for the road formation.
As per plan, DRDA officials said, the road will be six metres wide, including three metres of carriageway. Unlike two centimetres of bitumen thickness, the stretch will have at least eight centimetres to provide more durability during the monsoon. A cement-concrete mix will be laid at nine hairpin bends on the route to ensure the safety of motorists. A total of 12 culverts, a retaining wall with steel railings, and a storm water drain will be built on the route. The total cost of the new road will be ₹5.6 crore under the Tamil Nadu Rural Roads Improvement Scheme (TNRRIS).
During the field inspection, Mr. Pandian also instructed DRDA officials to reduce the steepness of the route. He also met residents in Alleri, Maruthavalli, Attukal Kollai, and Erikollai hamlets on the hillock. Residents sought regular water supplies, farming equipment for little millet (Samai) cultivation in the hillock, and the creation of soak pits as part of rainwater conservation. The Collector assured that necessary steps would be taken.
