A team of officials taking two
truckloads of essential commodities was denied permission by a checkpost officer to cross over to Kerala to reach Western Ghat hamlets on the Tamil Nadu side, officials here said on Tuesday.
Following the denial of nod, the essential commodities were loaded on horsebacks and delivered to the residents of Central and Top Station hamlets after an arduous trek through the jungles, they said.
The Tamil Nadu hamlets of Central and Top Station are about six and 12 km respectively from Kurangani on the Western Ghats, located at an altitude of nearly 8,000 feet.
However, these hamlets can be reached via road only through Kerala side via Bodimettu, the border point between Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Trekking is the only option to Central and Top Station from Kurangani which too falls under Tamil Nadu.
The distance between district headquarters here and Kurangani via Bodi is about 30 km.
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Bodi Tahsildar Manimaran said when he and other officials including block development officer Nagaraj headed to the twin hamlets in a government jeep and two mini-trucks carrying essential commodities including rice, they were stopped at Bodimettu checkpost by a Kerala officer.
"Though I told the Kerala officer that I am the Tahsildar for Bodi (the two Western Ghat hamlets fall under the jurisdiction of Bodi) and that the consignment of essential commodities belonged to the Tamil Nadu government for supply to residents of the hilly hamlets that fall within Tamil Nadu, our team and trucks were denied nod to cross over," Manimaran told PTI.
The entire Kurangani region is a storehouse of rich biodiversity and Kolukkumalai, the highest tea estate in the world is situated atop Kurangani.
As permission was denied, the team returned and sent the essential commodites through horses to the hamlets, they said.
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