40-year-old demand for road to Scheduled Caste village causes communal rift in Nilgiris

For over 40-years, the residents of Ambal Colony at Kengarai panchayat in Kil Kotagiri of The Nilgiris district have had only one demand — for a small road measuring a few hundred meters to be laid closer to their village that would help local residents access basic facilities.

After a long drawn out battle which included submission of petitions to the government, protests, threats to boycott elections and hunger strikes, the villagers, consisting of 40 Sri Lankan repatriate Scheduled Caste (SC) families were finally relieved to learn that funds were sanctioned for acquiring 18.77 cents at a cost of ₹17.36 lakhs from local landowners under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement) Act, 2013.