KOCHI: Irked by the delay in completing the housing and electrification project, the around 80 tribal families living in Uriyampetty colony located deep inside the Kuttampuzha forest area have threatened to launch a protest in front of the panchayat office. “We will wait for 15 days and if the authorities fail to restart works, the entire families in the colony will march to Kuttampuzha and lay seige to the panchayat office,” said Gireesh, a tribal youth.
According to him, the government had allocated 19 houses for Uriyampetty under Life Mission last year. While the construction of houses in the 14 other tribal colonies have been completed, the panchayat and tribal department are delaying the construction claiming inadequate funds. Though Kuttampuzha panchayat and KSEB had brought solar panels to the colony three years ago for electrification, the project is yet to be implemented and the equipment are gathering dust in a shed located in the colony.
Uriyampetty is an isolated tribal colony located 22km away from Kuttampuzha forest checkpost. The residents walk or occasionally hire a jeep to reach the outside world to procure essentials.
“There is no power supply in the colony and we rely on kerosene lamps. We celebrated when the authorities brought solar panels to the colony, assuring us to provide three LED bulbs and a fan for each house. But the solar panels are gathering dust in the storeroom. Recently, the tribal welfare department distributed solar lanterns to the households which do not work for even two hours,” lamented Gireesh.
Construction stopped
According to him, the construction of houses was stopped three months ago and there has been no word from the authorities since then. When tribal promoter Reghu and panchayat member Baiju convened a Oorukootam (grama sabha meeting) on Wednesday, the tribals thought it was to discuss the completion of the houses. "They came to inform us that the term of the present panchayat is over and work will be taken up by the new panchayat body after election," said a tribal.
"The construction of two houses was completed months ago, Only the doors and windows need to be fixed. Brickwork had started for four houses when the contractor last visited the colony. Only the foundation has been completed for 13 houses," said Gireesh.
Under the Life Mission, the panchayat provides Rs 4 lakh for each house while the tribal department provides Rs 2 lakh. "The construction work was stalled during the monsoon as the movement of construction materials was affected due to flood. As the road connecting Uriyampetty with the outside world got damaged in the flood, we could not reach the colony. Now, there is a paucity of fund as the file is pending before the finance department. We have sought the help of KSEB to complete the electrification of Uriyampetty," said tribal development officer G Anil Kumar.
Panchayat refutes charges
However, Kuttampuzha panchayat president Sandhya Lalu refuted the allegations and said the construction of houses has not been stopped. "There was delay in the work as we could not reach the colony after the flood due to damaged roads. Though the panchayat tried to repair the road under the employment guarantee scheme, the tribals were not willing to cooperate. We had to bring workers from outside to complete the work," she said.
"The government had allocated 94 houses under Life Mission and we completed maximum houses using the panchayat fund. The district panchayat has promised to provide Rs 18 lakh which will be used to complete the works. We are allocating funds based on submission of stage report after conducting quality check," said Sandhya. She said that the panchayat has raised the issue of electrification of houses in Uriyampetty before the district collector and the KSEB has assured to take up the work immediately.