The State Human Rights Commission has directed the state government to take urgent measures to complete the construction of 19 houses, which was stopped midway, at Ambumala Tribal Colony bordering Kozhikode-Malappuram districts.
The New Indian Express had exposed the plight of the tribal colony, in a three-part series, ‘Untold Miseries: The Tribal Tale.’
The colony lacks basic amenities such as good shelter, water, road connectivity, electricity, treatment and education facilities.
The action came after Prof Varugheese Mathew, a former faculty with Malabar Christian College, submitted a petition before SHRC Chairman Justice J B Koshy, citing the reports published in TNIE.
Justice Koshy, who considered the plea, said that it was a matter which required urgent consideration.
The commission also ordered to construct a 2 km road, upgrade the tribal school and to provide electricity connection. The SHRC chairman also sought adequate facilities for medical treatment to the people residing in the colony.
Making a mockery of the residents’ plight, one can see a number of half-built houses in the colony. The Chaliyar grama panchayat had allocated 22 houses for the tribal families in 2009. Only three have been completed so far.
The houses were awarded under the Indira Awaz Yojana Scheme at a cost of `1.25 lakh each. The colony houses 24 families, with a population of 78 people belonging to the Kattupaniya community. The residents have to travel a distance of 3 km through a private land to reach the main road. It takes almost an hour to reach the road through this difficult path and during rain it becomes slippery, making the walk uneasy.
Besides these, like other tribal hamlets across the state, Ambumala colony also experiences severe malnutrition.
According to the data available, there are eight children under the age of five in the colony. All of them face severe protein-energy malnutrition. For the residents, the nearest health care facility, the Chaliyar Public Health Centre, is 16 km away.
For advanced treatment, they have to go to Nilambur, which is 22 km away or to the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital.
The tribal school in the colony has only 12 students from the colony. However, there is only one teacher who has to walk through the jungle for a distance of 10 km to reach the school.