BENGALURU: Flouting all rules, locals from Anambadi village of Karnataka take a dangerous ride across the Cauvery river every day. Big coracles are operated transporting both people and vehicles from Anambadi to Tamil Nadu even after the state forest department made efforts to put a stop to such illegal operations in a protected area.
Anambadi village, with a population of 45 tribal and 50 other families, is located in Gopinatham Range of Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary. For the villagers, access to facilities such as hospitals is far off in Karnataka, so they cross the river in dilapidated big coracles to Tamil Nadu. However, to get access to this facility, they have to traverse a forest road which is around 4km to their village. Locals say they take the river route as the road route to Tamil Nadu is more than 30km.
Raj operates a coracle across Cauvery river from 6am to 6pm daily - charging `40 for locals and `100 for outsiders for transportation of motor bikes. Operating almost 8-10 trips from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu and back, he says that it is his livelihood and he has no other means of earning. “It takes 20 minutes to go across the river with three bikes and a few people. It is not easy for me to take such a heavy load, so I have another person helping me,” he says.
Raising objections to the operations of coracles in a protected area and usage of forest road by people, wildlife activists say the entry to this forest road is banned. Further, coracles are run across the swollen river which is dangerous.
Wildlife activist Tejus adds, “It is a regular wildlife route. The coracles are loaded with 2-3 bikes at a time and 6-7 people. Many a time, the coracle being overloaded gets filled with water and it may over turn. How could the forest department allow the operations of such big coracles across the river in a protected area?”
Shankar, Range Forest Officer, Gopinatham Range, Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary, told Express that the passage of small coracles is allowed as it is the lifeline of villagers, however, big coracles will be stopped soon.