PALAKKAD: Imagine having to trek 12 km through a forest merely to charge a mobile phone.
This is the plight of 293 tribal families in Attappadi. For the past 21 days, they have been without electricity, cut off from the outside world and living in fear of wild elephants.
The lives of the residents of Chindakki, Thadikkundu, Murugala, Kinattukara, Thazhe Anavai, Mele Anavai and Kadukumanna were plunged into darkness after a 15-km-long underground power cable was damaged during BSNL cable-laying works. The incessant rain did the rest.
Now, charging a mobile phone, their crucial link to outside world, has become an ordeal. Kadukumanna is 16 km from Mukkali, the nearest town, and there is no proper road even for two-wheelers. Anavai is 12 km from Mukkali, while Kinattukara is more than 7 km away. While Anavai has a road, most residents generally walk to their destinations.
“We cannot venture out after 5pm as it gets dark and wild elephants are frequently spotted in the area. Our mobile phones also run out of charge, leaving us unable to contact anyone in town. We have been visiting and contacting KSEB officials every day, but they say they are helpless,” said Ramesh, an Anavai resident.
KSEB said it has been struggling to restore power because of multiple faults along the cable. “We detected several faults when repair work began on the 15-km-long underground cable system two weeks ago. We rectified faults in nearly 16 spots over 8km by Sunday evening,” said a senior officer at the Agali KSEB sub-division.
By Sunday, power was restored at Thadikkundu, Murugala and Kinattukara tribal hamlets. The outage continues in the rest.
Tribal families seek Sunny Joseph’s intervention
“In the BSNL cable-laying works, KSEB cables got punctured at several points. Water is now seeping into the underground system, with water oozing out at several cable junctions, further complicating repairs,” said a KSEB official.
The underground cable system was commissioned in 2024, and this is the first time the area has witnessed such a prolonged power outage. A cable-testing team had to be brought from Kozhikode. During repair work, their vehicles and machinery broke down a couple of times.
Since the cable runs through a forest area, there are severe limitations on taking heavy vehicles and machinery to the affected locations, according to the authorities.
The tribal families have sought the immediate intervention of Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph and urged the government not to repeat the neglect they say they faced over their other long-standing grievances.
