It was nothing short of a festival for the people as they garlanded the bus and celebrated bursting crackers and distributing sweets.

Just a week ago, Tamil Nadu CM launched Chennai’s first ‘luxurious’ air-conditioned, electric buses. While it sure is a remarkable feat, a village in Tamil Nadu is celebrating a bus service being commissioned in their village – first time after independence.

73 years after Independence, this is the first ‘freedom ride’ for people of Meenakshipuram village near Virudhunagar district’s Thiruchuli town. After repeated requests and protests, the villagers’ wish for a bus service has finally come true.

With no means to travel, the villagers were forced to walk 4 km every time to nearby M Reddyapatti village to get a bus, according to a report in Vikatan . They were even denied of transportation for so long that people including school students, faced a lot of difficulties. Even the relatives of the people were reluctant to visit them because of the lack of connectivity.

It was nothing short of a festival for the people as they garlanded the bus and celebrated bursting crackers and distributing sweets. Even the driver and conductor of the bus was honoured, the report said.

Now, M Meenakshipuram will get a bus in the morning and evening to help school and college students to travel.

In a time where we celebrate phenomenal rocket launches, the sky was the only limit for these villagers on getting their first ticket to ‘freedom to travel.’ It was indeed their first freedom ride since independence.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu  / by Online Desk / September 02nd, 2019