Freight traffic including vegetables to Tamil Nadu and Kerala has been completely affected due to the collapse of giant boulders on the Bodimettu hill road in the Theni district. Bodimettu Hill Road is the main road connecting Tamil Nadu and Kerala. It is situated at a distance of 26 km from Bodi.
It has been raining continuously in the region for the last few days. As a result, the boulders on the hills had lost their grip and small landslides have been found to occur. In light of this situation, at midnight on Sunday, at a place called Biscuitparai, giant boulders fell down the road in succession. Due to the lockdown in Kerala, there was no vehicular traffic in the area.
Work began early on Monday morning to remove the boulders since they were difficult to remove at night. Due to the large size of the boulders, the road on which they had fallen has split and shifted.
This is an important trade route from Tamil Nadu to the Idukki district of Kerala to Munnar. Although lockdown has been imposed in both the states, essential commodities including vegetables and milk are still plying the route. The officials from the highway, forest and police department are now camping in the area and engaged in the task of disposing of the giant boulders. More and more boulders are rolling around and damaging the roadside iron barriers. Until further notice, the Highways Department has asked vehicles to take diversions such as the Kambammettu route.
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.