Speaker pacifies villagers blocking national highway

TIRUNELVELI

TIRUNELVELI

Assembly Speaker M. Appavu’s pacified the villagers, who blocked the vehicular traffic on the busy Valliyoor – Tirunelveli 4-lane highway at Thalapathi Samudhram on Thursday evening with a dead body in protest against the fence erected across the path leading to the cremation ground.

After the Rajakkalmangalam village panchayat recently erected fence across the path leading to the cremation ground on the bank of the Nambiyar, residents of 10 villages using this cremation ground could not access it easily and they had to use an alternative route to reach the spot.

When Nallathaai, 82, of Thalapathi Samudhram Melur passed away, the villagers took the body in a procession to the cremation ground on Thursday evening. As the villagers were informed that they had to take the circuitous route to reach the cremation ground due to the fence, they parked the vehicle carrying the body on the middle of Valliyoor – Tirunelveli stretch and sat on the road in protest in which a few hundred vehicles including ambulances were stranded.

Since Assembly Speaker M. Appavu was going from Valliyoor to Tirunelveli to participate in a function in Palayamkottai, his vehicle also got stuck. Getting down from his car, he walked for about a km and held talks with the protesters, who told him about the problem they were facing due to the erection of fence.

Mr. Appavu contacted the presidents of Thalapathi Samudhram and Rajakkalmangalam village panchayats over the phone and requested them to remove the fence. After the fence was removed, the Speaker walked up to the cremation ground from the protest spot along with the mourning villagers and paid his last respects to Nallathaai at the cremation ground before leaving for Palayamkottai.