National-level para powerlifting champion seeks road access to his village near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu

National-level para powerlifting champion hopes his silver medal win can bring road access to his village.

A national-level para powerlifting champion, whose exploits at the 2023 Khelo India Para Games bagged him a silver medal, hopes the interest generated by his performances can help bring road access to his village, where around 30 families are residing for decades.

V. Saravanan, who bagged a silver medal in the Men’s 65-kg category in the para powerlifting event, is a resident of Gundada village in Jegathala panchayat. The village, located near Coonoor, is home to mostly daily wage labourers and plantation workers who are trying to get road access to their village for over three decades, they said.

Mr. Saravanan said he was training as a powerlifter for the last five years, and owed his success to the help and support of his neighbours. “Even when I needed to go for training, they would carry me more than 1.5 km to the nearest road, so that I could go and train,” said the 35-year-old Mr. Saravanan.

“The villagers of Gundada face many hardships. They have to travel a distance of three km to even get a pack of milk, walking through tea estates and forest areas to even access basic amenities,” he added.

Other villagers, such as Vijayan, said during medical emergencies people encounter difficulty in accessing healthcare as ambulances are unable to reach their village. “There have been instances when pregnant women who were being taken to hospital have suffered falls and had miscarriages and debilitating injuries,” he said.

Mr. Saravanan and the local residents want the Nilgiris district administration to intervene and convince local landholders to hand over a portion of their properties to the government so that a road can be laid to the village. “Most of the landowners have agreed to allow us a right of passage so that a road can be laid, except a few who want exorbitant amounts of money in exchange for a bit of their land. If the government can convince these people to sell the land, then a road can be laid to the village,” he told The Hindu.

While he is employed as a warden in a government hostel for students, Mr. Saravanan does not want the children from his village to undergo the trials and tribulations he faced while going to school or while pursuing his dreams of becoming a national-level athlete. “Whenever people approach me for interviews, I always tell them about the village where I reside and the need for road access in the hope that government officials will hear our pleas,” said Mr. Saravanan.