TN: Collector promises roads after infant bitten by snake dies while being taken to hospital on foot

Vellore (Tamil Nadu) [India], May 31 (ANI): Following an incident in which an infant, bitten by a snake died while being carried on foot by her parents to a hospital in Atthimarathu Kollai village in Tamil Nadu's Vellore, the district collector on Tuesday assured that motorable roads will be laid soon to enable faster commutes to hospitals in the area.
Owing to the lack of proper roads, the parents of the 18-month-old child carried her for 10 kms after the ambulance dropped them midway. The incident took place on Monday.
Speaking to ANI, Vellore Collector Kumaravel Pandiyan said, "In each hilltop village, the government has posted a 'village health nurse' but in their haste, the parents of the child did not contact the health nurse and rushed downhill instead, towards the hospital. They have complained that there is a lack of motorable roads downhill. We will take necessary steps to lay proper roads downhill."
The district collector informed further that the forest department has also given its approval to lay roads in the village. "The project is to be implemented under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme. The Forest department has some rules and we could only lay new roads by adhering to them," the collector added.
Pandiyan said proper roads have already been laid in various places in the forest under MGNREGA.
"On the instructions of Rural Development Minister E Periasamy, a project amounting to around Rs 5 crore has been approved for the same. We are planning to start the roadwork as soon as we obtain the clearance from the Forest department," he said.
He added that the process was set in motion 20 days ago and the tragic incident happened in between.
"Hereafter, there won't be any such incidents. All the road works will be completed in a month's time," the collector said.
He informed that the villagers have also requested for a primary health care centre to be opened in the village, adding that the administration will take steps to fulfil the request at the earliest.
The child, identified as Dhanushka, succumbed to the snake bite as it took her parents time to reach the hospital in the absence of proper roads in the village.
The girl was being rushed to a hospital in Vellore but died en route.
The infant's kin alleged that the lack of motorable roads resulted in a delay in reaching the hospital, thus depriving her of proper treatment on time. (ANI)