The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Madurai News : Bench poser to Ministry

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 03, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Madurai

Bench poser to Ministry

By Our Staff Reporter

MADURAI, APRIL 2. The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday issued notice to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and the State Government to explain the delay in laying a road between Adukkam village in Kodaikanal Taluk and Periyakulam.

According to a public interest litigation moved by a resident of Adukkam, though the State Government in 1980 sanctioned funds for laying a road between the village and Periyakulam under the `Western Ghat Scheme', the work could not progress due to objections raised by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests since the road had to pass through forest area.

The project again began in 2001and tar roads were laid from Periyakulam till the foothills and from the village till halfway down the hills. But the middle portion running for about 5 km in the forest area could not be completed since the Central Government refused to part with the land.

Arguing for the petitioner, K.P.S. Palanivelayutham contended that the action of the Union Ministry in refusing permission to lay the road amounts to denying fundamental rights to the residents of the hilly region. The State Government had adequately compensated the Union Ministry by providing them with an alternative land of about 25 acres, but still they were blocking the project from being implemented, he said.

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