It's a snail's crawl up Kodaikanal hills

MADURAI: It generally takes about one-and-a-half hours to reach Kodaikanal town from the plains, but many who travel to the hill station regularly say it may take up to five hours to cover the same distance during peak season depending on the traffic. Local people and stakeholders in the tourism industry in the hill station point out that the 12 km stretch between Perumalmalai and Kodaikanal is the most congested one.

Since it can take even up to three hours to navigate this stretch, they have been demanding an alternative road to Pethuparai from Vilpatti for some time now.


There are three major roads connecting Kodaikanal from various points on the plains and all the three roads -Batlagundu road, Adukkam road and Palani road- connect at or before Perumalmalai. This means that there is only one route between Perumalmalai and Kodaikanal. The traffic congestion is almost impossible to clear if a tree gets uprooted or a heavy vehicle breaks down on this route as there is no alternative to connect the two points, local people said. They said that a stretch of just 5 km was required to connect Kovilpatti near Vilpatti and Bharathi Annanagar. If the road was laid and the stretch brought to use, it could help decongest the regular roads. The Britishers were using a mud road connecting the areas and while it was forgotten by many, the path vanished from the government records after eighties. The farmers of the area recently joined hands to restore the mud road.

State secretary of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh , V Asokan said that the road will not only give an alternative road to reach Kodaikanal and reduce traffic, it will also help hundreds of farmers to start cultivating their land. “The stretch mostly has revenue land and patta land and it can be easy for the authorities to acquire land. Farmers too are willing to give the required land,” he said. Ravikumar, former president of Lake Road Small Scale Traders Association, said that it was not just local people, but tourists from various states who get stranded for hours together even if there was a small blockade. “If there is an alternative route, one-way system can be introduced whenever there is heavy vehicular movement,” he said. Asokan added that the road could even be stretched till Thekkanthoppu in the foothills, from where the Palani Ghat Road takes off, to get faster connection to Palani.

An official from highways department, Kodaikanal said that they were planning two new stretches, one connecting Vilpatti and Pethuparai and the other connecting Vilpattti and Thekkanthoppu. “We are studying the possibility of both the routes. Soon, we will send separate proposals to the government and it will be up to the government to approve and allot the funds,” he said.