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Collector comes to the rescue of students

Staff Reporter

Takes inititiative to build temporary causeway in 20 days

TIMELY ACTION: Virudhunagar Collector S. S. Jawahar inspecting causeway work across the Gundar river in Panikurippu village on Saturday.

VIRUDHUNAGAR: For more than a year, students of Panikurippu had been walking nearly three km to take a bus to reach their schools at Kalkurichi and Kariyapatti.

For, a major portion of the causeway across the Gundar river, connecting the village with Kariyapatti, remained rendered damaged for months. Only light vehicles and two-wheelers could ply on it.

The recent flood worsened the situation, as a portion of the 200-metre-long causeway was washed away. Hence, the students had to walk with heavy bags. When the matter was taken to the attention the District Collector, S.S. Jawahar, he took it up as a challenge. He coordinated with all departments, private agencies and the local people. The result: the causeway was temporarily restored within 20 days. The striking feature of the work is that it was constructed at a cost of Rs.1.29 lakh.

"In normal procedure, it would have taken at least two more months to complete it. The cost would have been more than Rs. 10 lakh," the Collector said. The concrete pipes were contributed by the Highways Department. A contractor involved in four-laning of National Highways gave earthmovers and other vehicles. Materials were procured from different departments. Local people also took part in the construction work.

The services of officials of different levels - from the Revenue Divisional Officer (Aruppukottai) Sivasubramanian, Tahsildar, Block Development Officer and union engineers - were used to supervise the work.

The Collector also directed the State Transport Corporation to ply additional bus services to suit the school timings as demanded by the villagers.

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