TN Assembly Election | Namakkal Collector, officials climbed 5 km to inspect polling booth at Kedamalai

District Election Officer and Collector. Megraj along with officials on Wednesday 10 km to inspect the arrangements at a polling station located in Kedamalai village of Rasipuram assembly constituency.

Located 1,200 meters above sea level in the South Eastern Ghats in Keelur Panchayat of Rasipuram taluk, the village has 322 female voters, with 155 female voters. Nestled in the Pudupatti reserved forest area, Mr. Meghraj and the officials started from the foothills of Jambuthumalai at 7.30 am and reached the village at a distance of 5 km at 10.30 am. The Collector inspected the arrangements at the Government Tribal Residential Primary School and also told the people how to cast their votes in the electronic voting machine. The functioning of the VVPAT was also demonstrated to the villagers and later, the team started their return journey and reached the foothills at 1.30 pm.

Two other villages Melur and Keelur were also located on the hill, which has a total of 899 voters. To reach these villages one has to trek for another three hours from Kedmalai. Election officials said that only two polling stations, Kedamalai and Melur, were located on the hill and the voting material was carried as a head load.

The demand for a road is yet to be met, and people have been reaching their villages on foot all these years. In January 2018, the District Level Committee, under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Areas (Recognition of Rights) Act, 2006, approved a proposal for the formation of a block-topping road from Pudupatti to Kedamalai by the Vinthenur Block Development Officer . Reserved forests from Vadgam to Melur under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. The project required 2.71 hectares and 5.96 hectares of forest land respectively. An application for forest clearance has been submitted with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.