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

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A view of Ambal colony in The Nilgiris from the area where the residents want a road to be constructed to help them have more access to healthcare and basic amenities. | Photo Credit: Rohan Premkumar

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.

The order was issued by the office of Directorate of Adi Dravidar Welfare on September 3, 2026, with notices being issued to local landowners about the acquisition. However, the villagers’ relief was short-lived as the dominant caste community which surrounds their village staged a protest last Wednesday (September 23), demanding the cancellation of the project. The community cited concerns that the proposed road that is to come up on the land could cause landslips and also that it would pass close to the Sri Mahalingaswami Temple located in Havoor village.  

For residents like C. Srinivasan (64), a daily wage worker who was born and brought up in the village, the reasons for the dominant community opposing the road are clear. “The community, being vegetarian, fears that the road will be used by Dalits, to bring meat close to their temple. They also do not want us to walk near the temple,” he told The Hindu on Saturday (September 26).

Srinivasan’s wife, S. Lakshmidevi, said the residents of Ambal colony feel they are being socially excluded. “Even before this, our children stopped going to play in the public playground near the temple as we were made to feel unsafe and unwanted. Meanwhile, after our demand for the road became more pressing, the local shopkeepers have also stopped selling us food and produce upon instructions from a few members of the dominant community,” she alleged. Besides, she claimed the tea estate owners whose lands they worked on have also stopped giving them jobs. 

The Scheduled Cate residents said they had enjoyed a good relationship with most members of the dominant castes in the surrounding villages, attending events and funerals at their homes. They believed a few people were stoking opposition to the road and were stoking tensions between the two communities. “Most of the tea estate owners located near the village too will stand to benefit from the road, as transportation costs of tea and materials will come down substantially,” said Mr. Srinivasan. 

The Ambal Colony residents are not demanding a road directly to the village, as it is impractical, but only to a small clearing at the bottom of the hill on which their village stands.

Residents face an arduous uphill walk, measuring around a kilometre to the village from the main road. The path is dangerous due to the presence of wildlife | Photo Credit: Rohan Premkumar

“Over the last 15-years, there have been prenatal deaths and elderly people too have died due to people not being able to get to hospitals on time,” said R. Subhash (name changed), a resident of the village. He said his father has a heart condition, but has to make a kilometre-long walk over challenging terrain to get to the road. “Pregnant women and residents with mobility issues have to be carried in makeshift stretchers to the road, while there is also threat from wild animals that inhabit the surrounding areas,” added Mr. Srinivasan. 

Even this means of getting people to hospitals was highly dependent on men in the village being available during emergencies. “With most men in the village doing daily wage work, we get home only very late in the evening. So, if there are no people when a medical emergency happens, there can be a longer wait to access healthcare,” he added.

Maran, state joint secretary of People’s Power Party, who has been assisting the residents in getting the road sanctioned for the village said the residents have been demanding a road for over four decades, but the demand was being thwarted by officials at the local panchayat level. “The residents have threatened to give up their ration cards, abstain from voting in elections and have staged hunger strikes to finally get the road sanctioned,” he said.

Mr. Maran said he met Tamil Nadu Minister for Social Justice Vanni Arasu to push for the road, and urged him to visit the village to ensure there were no further antagonisms between the two communities. “We also demand that the officials who failed to act on the villagers’ demands over so many years face departmental action,” he added. 

A. Kathir, founder and executive director of ‘Evidence’, a civil rights organisation, said the communal opposition to a road being laid to a Scheduled Caste village should be seen as discriminatory. He said the opposition for laying the road violates Section 3(1)(za)(A) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act dealing with obstructing or denying SC/ST members from accessing public resources. 

“An entire dominant caste community coming together to oppose a project meant to uplift a downtrodden community is definitely a form of discrimination,” he said.

When contacted, members of the surrounding villages who opposed the project denied they were discriminating against local residents. In a statement, the Sri Mahalingaswami Temple and Village Protection Association said the locals “strongly condemned” the attempt to construct a road “within the premises of the historic Sri Mahalingaswami Temple — located in Thuneri-Melur village under Kengarai panchayat in Kotagiri taluk, revered as a traditional spiritual centre and guardian deity for all people.” 

“Villagers are outraged over the implementation of this project, which completely disregards the sanctity of the temple and the safety of the local residents,” the temple committee added, stating that Ambal Colony has been notified as being highly vulnerable to landslips.

“This centuries-old temple is revered as the principal guardian deity of the people of The Nilgiris district. An entire village including women and elders poured into the streets, declaring that this arbitrary road construction work carried out without the permission of the temple committee and without any respect for the religious sentiments of local residents is condemnable,” the temple committee said in a statement.

When contacted, members of the temple protection committee denied allegations of discrimination against Ambal Colony residents. They denied local businesses had been instructed to stop selling groceries to the Ambal colony residents, while they added that the playground, which they claimed is on temple grounds, has been closed to all people except to the Havoor Panchayat Union Primary School students.

K. Manoharan, president of the temple committee and ex-president of Kotagiri panchayat said the community opposed the road as there had been instances of Ambal colony residents “creating a nuisance” near the temple in the past. He said the temple committee fears if a road was constructed near the temple, they would drink alcohol and violate the sanctity of the temple. “This could create communal issues between the communities,” he said, adding claims that they were discriminating against Ambal Colony residents were false. 

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