Demanding additional bus service to their villages during school hours, over 50 students and villagers from Kuttadi Kallakurichi, Arinatham, Kallamedu, and Nadiyapattu villages blockaded a TNSTC bus near Ulundurpet on Thursday.
Nearly hundred school students from the villages study in schools at Ulundurpet, which is more than 15 kilometres away, and depend on TNSTC buses.
R Bakiyaraj, a villager, said, "Two TNSTC buses ply through our village during school hours. But if the buses are full, they won't stop in our village." The villagers said they had already requested TNSTC to operate additional buses to put an end to the students' suffering, but it fell on deaf ears.
On Thursday morning, July 28, the students and villagers sat in front a bus and staged a stir. The Thirunavalur police reached the spot and held talks with them. Later, TNSTC arranged an additional bus to ply through the village. Villagers demanded the bus must be operated regularly on working days. Due to the protest, traffic on Ulundurpet-Sernthanadu road came to a halt for nearly an hour.
