SHIVAMOGGA: Residents of Horabailu and Sannivasa villages in Shivamogga taluk have threatened to boycott zilla and taluk panchayat elections as a mark of protest against the delay in repairing a road connecting their villages with National Highway 206.
Horabailu and Sannivasa villages have a total population of around 1,000.
The seven-km-long stretch that connects these villages with NH 206 is full of potholes. Besides, a mini bridge constructed across the stream on this road, near Sannivasa, has been falling apart.
Buses have stopped plying to these villages owing to poor condition of roads.
More than 25 children from Horabailu and Sannivasa villages commute to Tuppur daily to pursue high school education.
During the monsoon, the road becomes unworthy of motoring, forcing students to skip their classes and remain at home for four months.
The residents of both the villages gathered at Shaneshwara temple at Horabailu to take out a protest rally and block the NH 206 near Tuppur to draw the attention of the government to their problems.
Manjunath, police sub-inspector at Kumsi police station, who arrived at the spot along with his personnel, requested the people to drop the plan to block the highway.
The residents said even ambulances introduced under Arogha Kavacha and Nagu Magu schemes were not plying to their villages owing to the poor condition of roads.
The protesters said they were unable to take a person suffering from any health problem to a nearby hospital. The water in public borewell at Horabailu had been declared unfit for consumption by the Department of Health and Family Welfare.
Even after several requests to the government to make alternative arrangements for supply of drinking water, no action had been taken so far, alleged the residents.
The residents said as a token of protest against the delay in providing basic amenities to their village, they would boycott the zilla and taluk panchayat elections.
