Development at snail's pace at Kerala's first tribal panchayat

Conflicts between various departments, the paucity of funds and lack of interest of the political leadership are the reason for the lack proper development

No motorable road, no proper panchayat office, health centres without doctors, online classes without internet connectivity, thus goes the plight of Edamalakkudy in Idukki district, the first tribal panchayat of Kerala, even ten years after the panchayat was formed.

The plight of the panchayat located in the forest areas near Munnar, a popular tourist spot, got highlighted recently as the renovated panchayat office building in the locality was destroyed by wild elephants last week and consumed the rice and food grains meant for distribution among children of the locality.

Conflicts between various departments, the paucity of funds and above all lack of interest of the political leadership are the prime reason for the lack proper development of the panchayat where over 2,700 people belonging to the Muthuvan tribal community living in 28 settlements spread across 106 square kilometre reserve forest area. Though political leaders and higher officials used to visit the locality, the prime intention of such visits is alleged to just site seeing.

Restrictions over constructions in forest areas and paucity of funds are being cited by various departments concerned for the snail's pace development of the region. Lack of proper education and awareness among the people of the locality over their rights is also a key reason why the neglect continues.

It was in 2010 that Edamalakkudy, situated 35 kilomtres from Munnar, was made a separate panchayat with the objective of giving more thrust to the region's development. The first major initiative was to make around ten kilometres of forest path to the panchayat motorable. But only a portion of the project was carried out so far. The panchayat will be totally inaccessible during the rainy reason. Residents have to carry commodities like their agricultural produce on their head and walk through the forests risking attack by wild animals. Lack of proper road also makes transporting construction materials to the region challenging and costly affair.

Panchayat office is situated only for namesake in the region. Owing to improper connectivity in the region, the panchayat office functions from a camp office at Devikulam, about 40 kilomtres from Edamalakkudy. A proposal to construct a new building for the panchayat office with proper trench to protect from the wild animal attack was pending clearance from the forest authorities for quite some time.

Even as the health centre is set up, doctors visit the area occasionally. Hence people of the region will have to travel up to Munnar for proper medical care. Online classes for students in the region was quite impossible owing to the lack of proper internet connectivity. Power connectivity to the region often gets affected during rough weather. Even projects like drinking water projects were pending clearance from forest authorities.

While local MLA S Rajendran and Idukki district collector H Dineshan blame it on the delay in getting the nod from forest department as the major hindrance for the development work at Edamalakkudy, Munnar Divisional Forest Officer M V G Kannan said that all possible nods for constructions as per the norms were being given at Edamalakkudy.

Kannan said that the panchayat building does not come under the exempted category for construction in the forest region and hence it was proposed to the district administration to prepare an integrated development plan for the areas so that exemptions could be availed. Road construction was held up due to paucity of funds. Dineshan said that the integrated development plan was awaiting a nod from the Scheduled Tribe Welfare department.

Rajan, a former panchayat secretary of Edamalakkudy, said that a key reason for the development lagging at Edamalakuddy was the lack of education and awareness among the people of the locality. Hence the people are unaware of their rights.