With monsoon comes a season of woes for tribespeople in Munderi hamlets
More than 120 tribal families living in four hamlets across the Chaliyar river o§ the Government Seed Garden Complex at Munderi in Pothukal grama panchayat near Nilambur dread the arrival of monsoon. Then, the waters in the Chaliyar river will swell and the tribal families will be marooned.
There are still no bridges to connect the tribal families with the mainland. The families survived the last four years largely because of their grit and tenacity after the devastating oods of 2019 destroyed the two bridges connecting their hamlets with Munderi mainland.
New bridge
The government has at last started the work for a new bridge near the Vaniyampuzha forest station. But the tribal families will have to spend this monsoon too without a proper connectivity with the mainland.
They have been using bamboo rafts to cross the river to reach the mainland since 2019. But crossing a swollen river on a bamboo raft is risky.
“The risk peaks during the monsoon, especially when there is a strong current in the river,” said Sudha V.K., a tribal ASHA worker at Vaniyampuzha hamlet.
There were a few incidents in which the raft lost control and got swept away, though the tribal youth escaped without injuries. When men use the raft as though it is a vessel, women and children, especially pregnant women, nd it a very tough means of transport. When the river is swollen, the residents refrain from using the raft.
21 families
There are 21 Kattunaikar families in the Kumbalappara hamlet at the upstream end of river. Down below, 21 Paniya families are living in the Tharippapotti hamlet. Further below, there are 42 Paniya families in the Vaniyampuzha hamlet, the largest among the four. Further downstream, there are 40 Paniya families in the Iruttukuthy hamlet.
At the mercy of river
Although the residents of the Iruttukuthy and Vaniyampuzha hamlets use bamboo rafts to cross the river, those living in Kumbalappara and Tharippapotti are unable to use a raft because of the nature of the river there. “They cannot use rafts to cross the river upstream because of the current and the rocky nature of the river bed. They walk downstream and cross the river using our rafts,” said Ms. Sudha.
Government o©cials said the construction of the new bridge would be completed by next year. But the tribespeople living in those hamlets hardly care.“They all make promises which are rarely met,” said S. Gireesh, a tribal youth from Vaniyampuzha.