Residents, farmers, traders, and students from the Government Primary School in Kottamadugu, a village around 10 km from Gudiyatham town in Vellore, staged a road roko and seized a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) bus on Friday demanding bus services to their village.
As a stop-gap measure, the existing bus service to Jittapalli village has been extended to Kottamadugu. When the bus reached Jittapalli village around 1 p.m., residents from Kottamdugu blocked Gudiyatham Main Road and seized the vehicle. They said they wanted the bus service to be extended to their village, which was around 3 km from Jittapalli, and also demanded buses to other places, such as Katpadi, Pernambut and Ambur.
A team of revenue officials, Gudiyatham taluk police and TNSTC officials, led by S. Jayanthi, branch manager, Gudiyatham Bus Depot, reached the spot and pacified the residents. Afterwards, the protesters dispersed after authorities assured them that steps would be taken to fulfil their demands. “We have been appealing to the Vellore Collector and the manager of the Gudiyatham Bus Depot but they only give lame excuses,” said S. Vasanthi, a resident.
Kottamadugu village has around 300 families, mainly farmers and labourers. The village has never had a bus service due to lack of proper roads, forcing the residents to reach Jittapalli to reach schools, hospitals, banks, and government offices. Since 1985, only one bus has been making two trips a day from Jittapalli to Gudiyatham town. A few years ago, a new bridge was built near the village. However, this did not come with new bus services despite the residents’ repeated pleas.
The village has government schools only till Class V, thus students go to Gudiyatham town for their studies. Likewise, the nearest primary healthcare centre (PHC) is also in the town. Most of the time, the bus to Jittapalli is irregular, forcing the parents to drop or pick up students in Gudiyatham town.
“A permanent bus service between the village and Gudiyatham town will be operated after getting nod from senior transport officials,” Ms. Jayathi said.
