At a crowded press conference, when eight-year-old Pooja Jain said, “I hereby appeal to our honourable chief minister to provide our village with an anganwadi, school, roads, electricity and such other basic facilities,” pain and anguish was writ large on her face and it wasn’t surprising at all. Belonging to a tiny hamlet that goes by the name Yelaneeru in the Belthangady taluk of Dakshina Kannada district, Pooja Jain walks three kilometres to Samse and then takes a bus to reach her school in Kalasa.
Deprived of even basic amenities, Yelaneeru has not seen development for decades now. In fact, the dejected residents of Yelaneeru have lost all hopes of getting any kind of support from the Government.
“Repeated requests to the powers-that-be have yielded no results. It is nothing but a waste of time, money and energy. Hence we have decided to make our own arrangements for decent roads, drinking water, school and such other facilities,” says S P Vardhaman, former member of Malavanthige Grama Panchayat.
Recently, the residents of Yelaneeru got together and laid a 7-km-long road from Yelaneeru to Didupe, as if to lend credence to the age old adage - ‘Where there is a will, there is a way’.
It may sound unbelievable, but it’s true. Yelaneeru, coming under the jurisdiction of Malavanthige Grama Panchayat, with a population of about a thousand, does not have a single shop. The residents have to traverse on foot the 3 km stretch to Samse even to buy something as ordinary as a matchbox. When such is the case, how can they even hope for a market, school, bank or electricity in their tiny hamlet?
Even a visit to Belthangady, their taluk headquarters, requires them to travel a distance of about 120 km in the Samse-Bajagoli-Naravi-Guruvayanakere route. The only other option is to travel 140 km on the Samse-Kottigehara route.
Actually speaking, the 7 km Koopu road between Yelaneeru and Didupe is the shortest route to reach Belthangady. Unfortunately, this road which was in use prior to 1958 can no longer be used by the people as it falls under the jurisdiction of the Kudremukh Forest Department which has objections to people using it. Repeated appeals have fallen on deaf ears and the net result is that people are forced to use the longer route.
Malavanthige Grama Panchayat members Prakash and Manjula have not bothered too much about the problems of Yelaneeru residents. Dejected by the attitude of persons concerned, the villagers of Samse, Yelaneeru, Guthyadka and Bangarabalige together improved the Koopu road, making it possible for vehicles to ply on this road. The situation would have been so much better had the Forest Department installed a check post on this road too. But, who has the courage to bell the cat? Well, that is a million dollar question.
With problems pertaining to the village persisting despite repeated requests for their redressal, the people of Yelaneeru say that their hamlet has become a picnic spot for officials because they come, accept the hospitality extended to them, lend a patient ear to their problems, go back to their respective offices and forget all about Yelaneeru.
The villagers’ cup of woes are overflowing. Though the Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat had sanctioned Rs 11 lakh for the laying of roads, the work has been stalled owing to various reasons. Further, the effort to provide electricity to the village has also not borne fruit as electricity poles and cables worth lakhs have been destroyed following landslides. The solar lights in the village have also stopped functioning within one week of their installation.
‘Necessity is the mother of invention’ they say. This is very true in the case of Yelaneeru. Because, the residents of the village have devised ways and means of solving their own problems. Accordingly, Yelaneeru resident Pushpadantha generates up to 350 watt electricity within his means, while the farmers of the village draw water from River Netravathi for their fields.
Each unto his own, shall we say?
Translated by Chethana Dinesh
A school with a view...
On a hill top about 4 km away from Yelaneeru, surrounded by a thick growth of weeds and sporting a big lock is the Yelaneeru school building. The school that required its students to walk up the steep hill was shut due to poor attendance.
But the building comes alive during elections and it is a very sensitive polling booth.
According to residents of the village, driven by the helplessness of being deprived of basis facilities, many youth are now joining the Naxal movement.
Is there an end to their woes? Only time can tell.