Residents including women, farmers, traders and students from 20 village hamlets of the Nemili taluk in Ranipet on Tuesday, December 26, 2023, blocked the Ocheri-Arakkonam Main Road in Panapakkam village protesting against the damage of village roads by trucks that carry sand and blue metal, for the ongoing ₹5,964 crore Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway work.
Residents said that the many rural roads in 20 hamlets comprising nine village panchayats such as Arigilapadi, Agavalam, Avaloor, Mahendiravadi, Kodambakkam, Vepperi, Thuraiyur, Sankarampadi and Uliyanallore have been extensively damaged since May 2022, when work to lay the expressway was started by the National Highways Authority of Indian (NHAI).
