TIRUNELVELI: As the tea workers from the five wards of Manimuthar Town Panchayat make their way to cast their votes, the air in Manjolai is pregnant with the worry of this being their last election in their home turf. Their land was leased to a private tea estate before independence and the lease may finally come to an end sooner than they expect.
From the young to the old, the act of casting their votes in this election is a bittersweet affair. Under the Manimuthar Town Panchayat, the voters of five wards (9 to 13) are tea estate workers residing in Chunnambil Division, Manjolai Division, Nalumukku, Kakkakachi and Oothu.
At present, the five wards have 2,389 voters, including 862 voters from Oothu in Ward 11, while the rest of the wards have voters ranging between 342 to 432 voters each. Since the early 1920s, the workers have been residing there and working for the tea estate in the middle of Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve forest for nearly four generations-- more than 90 years.
T Chellappa (64) told TNIE, "I was born and brought up in this estate after my parents began their work here. Now, I am working as a plumber in the same estate. I cast my first vote when I was 19 here. If the talk of the town is true, it seems like this will be my last vote here."
Adding to this, R Seelan (39), a resident said that there might be measures taken to restore this estate into a forest in the next two years as the 99 years of agreement comes to an end in 2028. If the state government's TANTEA doesn't take over the estate, this will be the last election for the people here, he added.