Athur villagers threaten to shun polling

Speaking at a protest meeting here on Saturday, the villagers said that the government had neglected the village. Even the elected representatives failed to provide basic facilities to the village.

The Athur villagers have been getting only assurances from the government for the last 30 years. However, the assurances never turned into a reality so far, said village leader H V Madhukumar.

The issues related to the pathetic condition of the road, drinking water, setting up of a ration shop, wild elephant menace were brought to the notice of the revenue officials. However, no solutions were found so far.

Opposing the move to include Athur to Athur Nallur Taluk Panchayat constituency, the villagers said that those who lost land during the construction of Harangi dam did not get compensation yet. Athur village has not been converted into Revenue village so far.
They said though there is a rule that all the private buses from Kushalnagar to Guddehosur should play via Harangi-Athur, many buses do not follow the route, thus causing inconvenience to the villagers.

Farmer M R Kannan said the forest department has failed to provide suitable compensation for the loss of crops due to wild elephant menace.