Tanjore:Residents of Melaramanallur travelling in a coracle on the Kollidam river.Generally, public of a locality or a village will seek adequate basic amenities. But the residents of Melaramanallur village, located amid the Kollidam river, have a different request, that is construction of a bridge.The village, which falls under Ariyalur taluk of Perambalur district, has a population of 2,500.
If they have to move out to towns like Papanasam and Kabisthalam on Thanjavur side or Thirumanur on Perambalur side, they have to cross the Kollidam river to a distance of 1 km on either side. For this they use floats when the river is full or wade through waist deep water or use bullock carts during summer. Problems faced by them in the absence of a bridge are many, they told The Hindu on Thursday.The island village has houses, a panchayat union school, a fair price shop, a temple of Pachaiamman, which was unearthed from a mound of sand by villagers and agricultural lands in which paddy and vegetables like brinjal are grown. They get water in borewells at a depth of 15 ft. Most of the people, who are land owners, said that they have been living for generations in the island village, which is 5 km in length and 2 km in width.
But the absence of physical connectivity is the biggest problem they face.Seventy children studying in high schools in Papanasam and Kabisthalam have to go in floats during rainy season and walk across the river during the summer to reach their schools. When there are floods they cannot attend schools regularly. They even had to miss their examinations and hence failed.Many youth in the village are dropouts at VII or VIII standards and have taken to agriculture.If this is the plight of the students going to high schools in other places, for the 120 children who study in the panchayat union middle school in the village, teachers have to come from towns on the banks of Kollidam.
Sahayameri, Head Mistress of the school, said that she comes from Thirumanur.“I find it difficult to reach the village. I depend upon floats or bullock carts to come to the village. I usually reach Thiruvaiyaru from Thirumanur by bus and again from Thiruvaiyaru, I will reach Thaikkal on Thiruvaiyaru-Kumbakonam Road by another bus. From there I will cross the river either by walk (during summer) or in float during rainy season. A bridge will help a lot”, she said.It will be very difficult to reach the village even in floats when the river is in spate. During those days the people have to depend upon commodities stocked earlier.
For the fair price shop in the village commodities are brought in bullock carts when the water is less and by floats during rainy season.“We are distributing rice at Rs. two a kg to the villagers and other essential commodities. But reaching the goods is difficult in the absence of a bridge” said K. Murugesan, sales clerk, who was supervising the rice bags brought in bullock carts to the shop on Thursday.Emergency cases cannot be easily taken to hospitals in nearby towns on the banks. A pregnant woman had to be moved in a float with much difficulty to a hospital on the bank recently said G. Thiruvenkadam, a resident of the town, who is now working in the UK. He had come to the village on a holiday. When there was an unprecedented flood in the Kollidam in the year 2005 (Kollidam carried three lakh cusecs of water) the village was inundated. People moved to a sand mound in the village and stayed there.
“Our demand is for construction of bridge in the southern side connecting Papanasam and Kabisthalam villages in Thanjavur district. We have submitted a memorandum to A. Raja, Union minister and Perambalur MP, D. Amaramurthy MLA, G.K. Vasan, Union Minister, and former collectors of Perambalur. We will be thankful if a bridge is constructed,” said T. Uthirapathy, Melaramanallur panchayat president.
Commissioner of Police G Nanchil Kumaran being greeted by his predecessor Letika Saran in Chennai on Thursday.Additional Director General of Police G. Nanchil Kumaran took over as the Commissioner of Chennai Police on Thursday.In a brief interaction with reporters, the Commissioner said he would accord top priority to maintenance of law and order, traffic and prevention of crimes.On Day One, he received petitions from the public and also addressed senior officers, officials said.Earlier, outgoing Commissioner Letika Saran handed over charge to Mr Kumaran.
