The Forest Department has sought a nod from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to provide 3.2 hectares of reserve forest (RF) for the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) to lay a bitumen road in Alleri hillock near Vellore.
Accompanied by S. Kalanidhi, District Forest Officer (DFO), Vellore, Collector P. Kumaravel Pandian inspected tribal hamlets in Alleri hillock, a distance of 5.1 km from the foothills, on Thursday to assess the basic facilities that are required for inhabitants in these hamlets. “Permission has been sought online. Once approved, the road will be laid within a year by DRDA,” M. Senthil, Executive Engineer (EE), DRDA (Vellore), told The Hindu.
Thursday’s initiative comes after a 35-year-old tribal man was carried on foot from Attukaalkollai tribal hamlet in Alleri hillock to a hospital, which was 17 km away, after he was bitten by a snake and died on the way on July 20. Prior to the incident, an 18-month-old baby girl in the hillock died in the same way on May 28.
