Remote Meenakshipuram finally gets separate booth

Madurai: Much to the relief of villagers in Meenakshipuram, Madurai district administration has set up a polling booth in the village and also created a separate zone to facilitate polling on the election day. Earlier the locals in the remote area used to trek for 2 to 3km downhill/uphill to cast their votes in the nearest booth.
Meenakshipuram village, which has over 200 voters, is situated 1,600m above mean sea level in Sirumalai hills and belongs to the Sholavandhan constituency.Though it is in Madurai district, the village could be assessed only through Dindigul district via dirt roads from Sirumalaipudur village in Sirumalai hills. The village is partially electrified through solar lights and has no modern facilities, except for a school. The solar lighting was launched only in 2013. Villagers in Meenakshipuram cultivate vegetables, fruits and pepper that are sold in Dindigul market. For long, they have been asking the district administration for a separate poll booth since they have to come downhill to Viralipatti village. Their demand was sent to election commission of India, based on which the booth was set up.
Over 300 villagers from Viralipatti were included in the voters' list of Meenakshipuram. Addressing to media persons on Thursday, the district collector K Veera Raghava Rao said that Meenakshipuram is a tough terrain. "Meenakshipuram voters can now vote in their village itself. We have also created a separate zone for the booth. The zonal officer will be sent earlier than others so that his team can reach the booth in time," he said.