Wayanad tribal hamlet struggles to survive *EM Manoj | Wayanad the pioneer * http://dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=KOCHI&file_name=KOCHI1%2Etxt&counter_img=1 * * While the Government boasts of pumping crores of rupees for tribal support in the State, an evicted and left-alone tribal village in Wayanad district has been passing through hard times after the paddy fields on which they relied for livelihood for generations got submerged in the Karapuzha Irrigation project.
"Nothing is left here for our existence; we lost our houses, cultivated land and cattle. The public wells are submerged in the reservoir. There are no roads, no medical aids and a tribal mother committed suicide last month when she lost all her hopes," Paniya tribal chieftain Kambian (98) told *The Pioneer*. More than 500 tribal families are experiencing hard times in the small huts on the top of the water surrounded hillocks. The Nellarachal hamlet, now in the middle of Karapuzha reservoir, was widely-known for its indigenous varieties of scented rice such as Gandhakasala, Geerakasala, Kayama. The paddy fields were stretched as far as the eye could see, owned by Wayanad Chetty and Mullakuruma families. It was the rice bowl of ethnic tribes like Paniya, Kattunaikka, Thenkuruma and Mullakurumas. It was 28 years ago when the Karapuzha Irrigation project started and 2,500 acres of land had been acquired by the Government to built the reservoir. Soon the landowners were evicted with fair compensation but the tribes, though majority in number, were also evicted from their ancestral land, as they didn't possess any documents of their land. Soon the landowners left with their new fortune, but dependents, the illiterate tribal people, were destined to continue their dilapidated huts by mining sand on the banks of Karapuzha river and rearing cattle in this de-populated area. Last year when the completion of the reservoir was over, everything submerged in the water except hillocks and the tribal of this area shifted their dilapidated huts on the top of the hillocks. Now more than 500 families have been living in wretched conditions. Almost all the huts are made of mud and thatched with the low quality plastic sheets, to escape from the rain and mist holes of the old plastic sheets are covered with plantain leaves. About nine members of a family are residing in these fragile huts. Since the pernicious cold wind is prevailing, all the time the small children have been suffering from chronic and contagious diseases, says Gopalan, the head of Kattunaikka tribe. "Here we have no job to do, all the male members of our colony have gone to Karnataka for labour. There is no electricity, no drinking water, no roads to connect the hillocks. Even the Panchayath grant for repairing the huts has also been denied to us, as we didn't have the land possession certificates. Our life here is in bad condition," he says. Even though the government had started a rehabilitation programme and Rs 170 lakh had been spent for this at Malayachankolly in 2004 but it could not reach the tribals. The first phase selected only 84 tribal families from nine tribal colonies in the reservoir rehabilitation programme. But when the tribal people realised that the huts were better than the concrete, most of them left the settlement. "Even before providing the basic infrastructure for the existence of the settlers, the settlement was thrust upon the tribes in a hurry", Babu Nellarachal, a tribal social worker pointed out. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of human personality." - Dr BR Ambedkar ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ greenyouth mailinglist is the activist support mailinglist for kerala run by Global Alternate Information Applications (GAIA) To post to this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
