COIMBATORE: Halammal, a 35-year-old resident of Anilkaadu, a tribal settlement situated near Kotagiri in the Nilgiris district, is happy after her house became the first one in the hamlet to get a power connection after over two decades of struggle. TANGEDCO provided power to her house on August 15.
There are seven families living in Anilkaadu for more than two decades, without electricity connection. While only Halammal’s house got the electricity connection on August 15, the rest of the houses will get the connection soon. The people had submitted a petition to Kotagiri Tahsildar seeking power to their hamlet during the recent Jamabandi meeting, following which the Tahsildar forwarded it to Collector SP Amrith, who then took steps to provide electricity for the hamlet.
The collector directed department heads of revenue and forest and TANGEDCO to work together to provide power supply to the tribals. Earlier, the Nilgiris forest division had sent a letter to the head of the hamlet, stating that they were unable to provide power supply as it is located inside the forest.
Nilgiris Adivasi Welfare Association (NAWA) paid Rs 18,000 to TANGEDCO to fix six meters and Coonoor-based Junior Chamber International (JCI) paid Rs 3,000 to fix one meter. Konavakkarai Panchayat President H Jayapriya gave Rs 14,000 for fixing service wires and wiring from Panchayat fund, since Anilkaadu comes under Konavakakrai.
NAWA secretary K M Alwas told TNIE that the seven Kurumba families from Anilkadu got electricity under Forest Right Act (FRI). Sources in the Nilgiris forest division confirmed that there is movement of wild animals in the village and in this regard, they have requested TANGEDCO to take steps to insulate the power cable, to protect the animals.