Yercaud: Government buses are keeping off the Yercaud Kuppanur road for the last one-and-a-half months, leaving the 13 tribal hamlets in the hill station stranded. There is not a patch of gravel or tar road on the crucial Yercaud Kuppanur road which links the 13 tribal hamlets in Kuppanur to Salem town. The land slips caused by the recent monsoon has piled up mud heaps on the road, making it unmotorable.
Works to widen the road between Kuppanur and Kottachedu began by the end of June and bricks and sand were dumped on the road. However, with the rains pounding the hill station, work came to a halt. Also, the work to widen the small bridge between the Sura Muniappan temple, near Kottachedu, also lies unfinished. As a result, people of the 13 hamlets in the Maaramangalathupatty panchayat are forced to take a detour of 50 km to reach Salem town. The state transport corporation is refusing to ply buses on the mud-heaped and pot-holed, narrow road.
Former Yercaud panchayat union councillor K. Madhu said road widening works should be speeded up to re-start bus service to the hamlets. “For the last one-and-a-half months, there is no bus service in the area, and there seems to be no effort to speed up the works,” he lamented. Enquiries reveal that contractors have stopped the work as they have not been paid the second tranche of funds. Students studying in colleges in Salem are forced to either trudge miles or hitch a ride on passing two-wheelers to reach Yercaud.
Ambulances are also unable to navigate through the roads adding to the woes of sick patients. Farmers in Vazhavandhi find it difficult to transport their produce to Salem. “Without a bus service, were are really struggling to take our farm produce to the Salem market,” said farmer R. Ponnusamy of Vazhavandhi village. However, state transport corporation officials told DC that bus services to Kuppanur can be resumed only if the roads are repaired. “We are ready to ply buses, but the road works have to be completed,” said an official.
