TIRUPPUR : The pregnant woman who was brought to Udumalaipet Government Hospital through mountain slopes by her family in a cradle after travelling for more than three hours delivered a baby girl on Monday night. After news about the incident went viral, tribal people in Pollachi have decided to boycott the elections on the issue.
According to official records, there are four polling booths in tribal settlements in Udumalaipet taluk – Mavadapu (835 voters), Thirumoorthy hill (668 voters), Kodathur (300 voters) and Thalanji (250 voters).
Speaking to TNIE, N Murugan of Kuzhipatti settlement said, “Yesterday, one of our neighbours daughter Nagammal (22) suffered labour pain. As we could not see her pain, we decided to take her to the hospital. Since she was eight months pregnant, the family members began to worry. We created a cloth cradle and took her to Udumalaipet Government Hospital. Fortunately the woman was admitted in the evening and she delivered a baby girl weighing 3 kilograms. Currently mother and child are safe. But the woman was brought along the mountain slopes after travelling more than three hours to travel more than seven kilometres through Ponnan Amman Solai to Thirumoorthy Hill settlement. Ordeal of the woman was very serious and harsh, as we had been demanding a road to connect our settlement to the health care facility, no action was taken. As a result, all tribals from Kuzhipatti and Kurumalai have decided to boycott the election. While Kuzhipatti has 315 voters, Kurumalai has 160 voters, soon all tribals from Udumalaipet will announce boycotts.”
Tamil Nadu Hill Tribes Association (Udumalaipet) K Kuppuswamy said, “This issue has been raging for more than 75 years. Lack of roads to the settlements, has angered the tribes in Kuzhipatti and Kurumalai tribal settlement. The present road is bad and filled with stones and rocks. Even bikes can’t drive through it. Not just these two settlements, all tribal settlements lack road facilities. But, the forest department has objected claiming the areas fall inside Anamalai Tiger Reserve. We will be convening the meet for all tribal settlements and decide whether all of us can boycott the election to seek attention of officials”
Speaking to TNIE, RDO (Udumalaipet) Jaswant Kanna said, “This was long pending issue and with the help of Dhali Town Panchayat, we have sanctioned the road between Kurumalai tribal settlement to Thirumoorthy hill settlement at the cost of Rs 49 lakh. The work is underway and rocks are being levelled. Now, we are planning to extend it to Kuzhipatti, where the pregnant woman was taken to the hospital. Sometimes, these things happen and it is unfortunate.”
On the issue of boycott, a team of officials from the revenue department would explain about the situation, he added.