The Central government’s approval is required under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, to lay a bitumen road in the Alleri hillock in Vellore district, where a tribal girl, bitten by a snake, died while being taken to hospital by foot.
District Forest Officer (Vellore Range) S. Kalanidhi told The Hindu that a joint survey by the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) and the Forest Department was under way in the hillock to ascertain the land needed for laying a bitumen road from Varadalampattu at the foot to the top of the hillock. “As forests is a subject that is on the Concurrent List of the Constitution, the Central government’s approval is required. We may get the approval because it is a tribal village,” Mr. Kalanidhi said.
