They have to walk seven kilometers from their village to reach the nearest bus stop or basic amenities.
They have to walk seven kilometers from their village to reach the nearest bus stop or basic amenities.
For 40 Irula families living in Kengarai’s Vagapanai along the Kil Kotagiri slopes, survival is an uphill struggle. They have to walk seven kilometers from their village to reach the nearest bus stop or access basic amenities including healthcare.
Since it takes more than six hours to travel to the nearest town and return home, many people have moved out of the village over the years. The rest have given up farming on their ancestral land, unable to transport their produce to the towns markets.
M Rangan, 28, works in a tea garden. He says residents have to leave the village. 5.30 am to catch the bus at Kotada Estate at 8 am the next bus to the city is only 10 am “If we reach after dusk, it becomes dangerous to trek to the village due to the presence of wildlife including elephants, gaur. And the sloth bear. ,
Residents still transport the small quantities of coffee and cotton that grow around their village, but they have abandoned agriculture because of the difficulty in transporting the produce, B. Karamadai, who also works in a nearby tea garden.
Halammal, the mother of one child, says that there are about 20 children in the village. All of them have to live in hostels and with relatives, apart from their parents, to go to school. “It’s very difficult to be away from our kids, but this is our home,” she says.
Residents also have to carry people in need of medical treatment on stretchers made of cloth and bamboo.
Kengrai Gram Panchayat President J. Apart from the Forest Minister, Murugan has appealed to the Collector as well as the Director and Secretary of the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department to build the road.
“It is possible to build a road of 3.8 km for residents to reduce the walking distance from the current seven km to 1-2 km,” he says.
Mr. Murugan says he has helped supply piped water at a cost of ₹14 lakh from sponsorship funds. He wants the residents to find a livelihood near the village they have occupied for hundreds of years. “They have been with nature and are the guardians of the forest. I hope the government will listen to our repeated demand for roads so that they can once again cultivate and grow crops on their land and once again get livelihood near their village.
Nilgiri tribal rights activist K. Mahendran says the government has an opportunity to ensure that education reaches even the remotest settlements along the road. “People want to send their children to school but are troubled by the lack of road connectivity. Not a single person from this village has gone to college.” A road closer to the village would improve the quality of life of all residents and bring more essential services closer to their village.