OOTY: While unprecedented floods in Kerala hogged the national limelight, Nilgiris has not been without its woes. The sudden heavy rains last week, on top of the southwest monsoon seasonal rains, in Gudalur and Pandalur belts bordering Kerala on the west have exposed the fragility of Tamil Nadu's hill district and the weak texture of its slopes and roads.
Though uprooting of trees and electric poles is a common factor of calamity in Gudalur and Pandalur taluks during SW monsoon rains, this year, landslips, rolling down of boulders and damage to the roads took root as new factor of calamity and disaster.
The way in which the Gudalur-Nilambur-Calicut road has crumbled in Kil-Nadugani area near Gudalur and the landslip and falling of boulder along Frog Hill View Point near Gudalur on Ooty-Gudalur-Mysuru NH has sent a sort of alarming signal, no one can take it for granted that these roads are ever safe even during heavy rains.
K.Razak, a social activist in Nadugani area near Gudalur, said that the Gudalur-Nilambur-Calicut road is a major and a busy road that connects the Nilgiris with neighbouring Kerala.
Social activist K. Razak.
“The damage caused to this road near Kil-Nadugani sector by the recent heavy rains and floods, especially the rains that lashed this area during the Independence Day week, proved how fragile this road is. Some parts of this road have caved in and in some areas the side retaining walls crushed. While it crippled traffic for a few days, now, traffic is being allowed on one side”, he pointed out. This narrow road was laid during the British era to handle a small volume of traffic during that era.
Now, the volume of traffic in this road has increased manifold. Even 12-wheel trucks use this road regularly. The stability and texture of this road have certainly waned. While this road in the fragile ghat section stretches to 18-km limits, 12-km of it falls in the Kerala side and only six-km in Nilgiris side.
In the Kerala side of the road, the Kerala government already started widening and strengthening this road. Now, what is needed is that the Tamil Nadu government allot adequate funds to widen and strengthen this road to the six-km stretch on Tamil Nadu side, he urged. G. Janardhanan, president of the Ooty Public Awareness Association, mad a fervent plea that in the Frog Hill View Point sector between Ooty-Gudalur part of National highway, officials should conduct a detail study to remove the fragile boulders along and to erect retaining walls at wanton points to check soil erosion and landslips..
