Tamil Nadu’s Vellore has built walls across the roads bordering Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district, preventing travel between these two places, to regulate further vehicle movements amid the ongoing pandemic and lock-down.

Walls up to 7-ft, have been constructed at two entry and exit points on Chittoo-Gudiyatham road and Chittoor-Ponni-Chennai road, including access to cancer hospital.

The move came after the hike in COVID-19 numbers was observed, with Andhra Pradesh’s cases at 1,097 positive cases, as per updates till Monday and 1,885 cases from Tamil Nadu.

The order for the construction was issued by Vellore district collector, A Shanmuga Sundram, stating that people returning to Vellore will have to undergo a health check-up at the medical camps at the check posts and quarantined if found positive.

Shanmuga said that the move was to check unauthorized entry of people like migrant laborers, who use vehicles including buses to enter Tamil Nadu without valid permission. ‘Since the chances of getting detected at the main border crossing is high, some people tend to use little-noticed locations in remote places,’ he told PTI.

According to a report by Hindustan Times, the walls were constructed without taking the Chittoor district authorities into confidence. D Markandeyulu, joint collector of Chittoor said the authorities had not even been consulted or issued any prior notice before the enforcement of the decision.

He said that the inter-state borders remain sealed to monitor the spread of the COVID-19, but vehicles carrying essential commodities including food were permitted to move.

‘People are allowed to travel between states as there are always certain emergencies. The border check-posts are meant for that purpose. If state highways are blocked permanently by constructing walls, it will affect the emergency transport services,’ Hindustan Times quoted Markandeyulu.

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