Located on the way to major towns like Sholinghur, Arakkonam and Tiruttani, many travellers pass through Paravathur village, especially those who are on pilgrimage. They have to travel through the two-lane dirt road in the village to reach these towns.
Dotted with sugarcane fields on both sides, Paravathur lacks bitumen roads, regular bus service, a bank, proper water supply and uninterrupted electricity. “We don’t even have an ATM in our village. We have to travel to Sholinghur town, 11 km away from the village, to withdraw money. During emergencies, we have to rush the sick to the same town on our bikes through bumpy roads,” said M. Gajendran, 46, a longtime resident.
Farmer S. Raghu Reddy, 53, echoes Gajendran’s assertion about the plight of their village, whose population comprises of weavers, farmers and petty traders. Frequent buses are a key demand of the residents in the village. At present, bus services like T-2 (Tiruttani-Arakkonam); T-5 (Tiruttani-Vengapattu village); T-45C (Arakkonam-Sholinghur) make single trips in the mornings and evenings. During the pandemic, the service was reduced to a single trip. Senior citizens and women have to depend on men in their families to travel to nearby towns.
Tucked away between Sholinghur and Arakkonam, Paravathur has retained its rural charm, with over 1,400 hectares under cultivation every year. Alongside paddy, sugarcane, leafy vegetables, groundnuts, green chilly, brinjal and coconut are the other major crops grown in and around the village, which has around 2,700 voters.
A major portion of the village’s inhabitants are weavers, with over 300 families dependent on handlooms. With bank payment remaining the key mode of transaction and a necessity to avail most government subsidies, residents of Paravathur have no choice but to go to Sholinghur, the nearest town with banking facilities.
A few years ago, residents passed a resolution in the panchayat to allow a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) bank to run for a nominal fee in one of the buildings owned by the rural local body. The panchayat even mobilised residents to start their bank accounts with the PSU bank and deposit their savings there. A written assurance by residents was also given. But, the assurances did not work.
Paravathur and its surrounding 20 villages, which have a total of 11 government schools, including four higher secondary schools, have to travel to Sholinghur (11 km) or Arakkonam (22 km) to avail bank services. The long list of woes of Paravathur and the surrounding villages’ residents have largely remained unfulfilled. However, frequent buses and a bank with an ATM are their immediate needs, they said.
