IDUKKI: Residents of Edamalakkudy – the state’s first tribal panchayat – are in dire straits as the village does not have its own panchayat office. For the past 14 years, the villagers settled in the 24 tribal hamlets had to travel 42km to reach the panchayat office which is situated in Devikulam. Though a panchayat office building is functioning in Soceitykudi, the panchayat officials visit the place only once a week. The poor network coverage and road facilities are cited as reasons for the delay in shifting the panchayat office to the settlement.
Edamalakkudy panchayat secretary Arun Kumar N told TNIE that though the BSNL has installed a 4G tower in Societykudi, the network quality is poor to execute the online activities and services of the local body through a computer system. “BSNL has promised us to provide optical fibre cable for providing high-speed network,” he said.
Adding to their woes, wild elephants that strayed into the panchayat building premises in Societykudi damaged the building and destroyed the windows on Thursday night.
Tribal residents said it is the second time that the building came under wild elephant attack. The officials are showing a lackadaisical attitude and no steps have been taken to end the wild jumbo elephant menace. The residents allege that the government is not interested in improving the functioning of the panchayat office at the settlement.
They also demanded the government build trenches as solar fencing was not found effective in keeping the elephants away from the habitation.
Arun Kumar said though fencing has been erected near the panchayat building across the road, jeep drivers who shuttle people from the settlement to Munnar disconnect the fencing at night to move their vehicles. This results in wild elephants straying into the building premises,” Arun said. However, the panchayat now plans to erect fencing along the building compound till the tribal hostel area, so that the elephant menace can be prevented to a certain limit, he said.
With the work on the road to Edamalakkudy, initiated by the tribal department spending Rs 18.5 crore progressing at a fast pace, the residents hope that they can finally avoid paying huge amounts to jeep drivers to reach Devikulam for personal needs. District panchayat member C Rajendran, who is from Edamalakkudy, told TNIE that to reach Devikulam for official purposes, the residents have to pay an amount ranging from Rs 5,000 to 6,000 to jeep drivers due to the bad condition of the road. “We are not even informed about new schemes and projects initiated by government departments. Then what will be the plight of the poor tribal settlers in Edamalakkudy, who have their panchayat office at a faraway location,” he asked.
It is true that it will be difficult for the officials to travel to the settlement to reach the panchayat office and back in the absence of a motorable road,. “But as soon as the road construction is completed, the office will start functioning full-fledged. Then only the tribal people will benefit,” he said.
As per local residents, the work on nearly 3 km of road has now been completed. As soon as the remaining 10-km stretch is completed, the panchayat office will start functioning regularly.