Detained PWD Men Freed in Ambur

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 19th March 2015 06:03 AM

Last Updated: 19th March 2015

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  The PWD officials, who were held captive by the residents of Naickaneri tribal village, in Ambur forest range on Wednesday | s dinesh

VELLORE: Residents of Naickaneri tribal village in the Ambur forest range held a team of PWD officials captive for nearly an hour on Wednesday demanding the resumption of the building of roads and houses, work on which was stalled following a direction of the Madras High Court. The officials were released by the villagers after being assured of their grievances being addressed.

The background to the villagers’ grievance arose after claims alleging that the tender had been discretely awarded to a contractor.

According to Forest Department sources, the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department had allocated `17 crore for connecting roads and 400 katcha houses for tribals living in Naickaneri, Panakateri and Pudurnadu hills in the Tirupattur Forest Division in the financial year of 2014-2015.

The need for roads and the houses is undeniable.

“Over 7,000 people are living in Naickaneri, Kamanurthattu and Panakateri village in Naickaneri panchayat. There are around 200 students studying in the schools in Ambur. The students walk up and down more than 20 kms per day. We have to reach the plain area by foot,” said panchayat president of Naickaneri K Sivakumar. Pregnant women, elders and sick persons are carried in doli to the plain area, he said.

 After the government had awarded the contract for the development work to one Gunasekaran, he began work and completed laying a distance of three kms of the road between Ambur and Naickaneri and 2.6 kms of the road between Peruyamkuppam and Kamanurthattu in Naickaneri hills in October at a cost of `90 lakh.

However another contractor, Kumaresan of Jolarpet, approached the HC and filed a petition claiming the tender had been awarded to Gunasekaran discretely and was not transparent. On hearing the petition, the HC passed an order to stop the works following which, the Forest Department stalled the works in the month of November. However, Kumaresan filed a contempt of court against the Forest Department alleging that the works are still going on.

In response the HC directed the Executive Engineer of PWD, the officials attached to Vellore Division Main, the District Forest Officer of Tiruapttur and the petitioner Kumaresan to conduct a spot-inspection and submit a report.

Complying with the direction, the officials along with the petitioner went to the Tribal village on Wednesday afternoon for the same.

On seeing Kumaresan, agitated villagers held him captive along with the officials. “For the whims and fancy of a person (petitioner), over 7,000 are suffering,” said one villager.

The villagers entered into a heated argument with the petitioner and the officials. After they assured the villagers they would submit a report explaining the problems faced by the villagers, the villagers let them go.

“We are hoping that our decades-old problems will end soon. The government sanctioned the funds after three years of repeated attempts to highlight our plight to the officials and government. We do not want to see it end in vain. We have been dreaming of the road for more than 30 years. But the stay-order obtained by a contractor against development-work has made our situation worse,” the panchayat president said.