PETTIMUDI: The Pettimudi landslide, which swept away an entire colony, has served a body blow to the Forest Department. The tragedy claimed the lives of six experienced watchers who used to help the department curb drug peddling, keep track of poachers and extend support to the tribal people living in 28 settlement colonies scattered across the 107-sq-km reserve forest area.
The six persons — Achuthan, his son Manikandan, Raja, Ganesan, Mayilswamy and Rekha — were the Forest Department’s ambassadors in the Edamalakudy tribal settlement belt. The tribal people there live in small villages in dense forest and view outsiders suspiciously. But they have close contacts with the families of estate workers in Pettimudi which had developed over generations. The residents of the workers’ colony in Pettimudi are well versed in the tribal people’s language and they used to provide transport facilities to the colonies. As many as 30 vehicles used for it were destroyed in the landslide.
Beat forest officer M Ramesh said: “Achuthan had been with us for the past nine years. The 55-year-old driver was our biggest asset. He had a good knowledge of the forest terrain as he used to carry essentials to the colonies decades ago when there was no proper road connecting the colonies with the outside world. His experience came in handy for the department in organising medical camps, conducting raids and coordinating anti- poaching drives.”
“Ganja sellers were active in the Edamalakudy area until 2007 and poachers used to roam freely in the forest from Mankulam to Rajamala. It was the intelligence network developed with the help of Achuthan that helped the department curb such activities,” he said.Achuthan’s son Manikandan was appointed as driver on daily wages, but he was more than a watcher for the department.
“Manikandan and Raja were expert drivers. They used to help us trace the carcass of wild animals and conduct postmortem examination. They used to clear the forest roads on their own. Raja joined only eight months ago and his close contacts with the tribal people came handy in organising medical camps and creating awareness. Raja was the driver of our new Thar jeep and we lost the vehicle along with him,” said Ramesh.
Ganesan, Mayilswamy and Rekha were attached to the wildlife division while the other three were employed by the Munnar territorial forest division. “The six watchers were our key contacts to the tribal community and we honour their service. We’ve announced an immediate relief of `50,000 to the relatives of the deceased and we’ll provide more compensation,” said Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden Surendrakumar.