The villages around KRF located four kilometres South West of Nilakottai town headquarters of Nilakottai Taluk in Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu were not connected to the city by good road. During 2000-01, the village community approached NABARD for laying a road to connect their villages with Nilakottai. They were told that NABARD finances only for improvement of existing roads and cannot finance a new road. The villagers decided to develop a new road on their own by parting with their land and contributed their labour. This is how they laid the 5 km kuccha road. Three months later the villagers came back to the Regional Office requesting NABARD to improve the road they had developed.
The Regional Office (Chennai) impressed with their sincerity and hard work, requested the Chief Engineer, Highways to include the road under RIDF with an outlay of Rs. 46 lakhs. The road was completed after a few months and the villagers were thankful to NABARD. The villagers have already formed an NGO for improving their villages by taking up various developmental activities. The Regional Office, having convinced of spirited group action in the village, encouraged them to adopt watershed development as the district (Dindigul) was identified for the purpose under the Watershed Development Fund (WDF). The road has become harbinger of development to the villages around KRF.
After successful completion of road under RIDF, a local NGO viz., the Centre for Improved Rural Health and Environmental Protection (CIRHEP) took the initiative to develop the villages under the WDF. The NGO identified four projects under Capacity Building Phase (CBP) and one more project is being considered by NABARD. The projects will cover a total area of more than 5000 ha. benefiting more than 25000 people either directly or indirectly. This is a success story of one road leading to other developmental activities. |
