The death of 16 tribal people in this remote hamlet of Y. Ramavaram mandal in East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh has prompted the State machinery to launch an exercise on a war-footing to develop infrastructure and other facilities in tribal hamlets.
Besides distributing drinking water filters and solar lights to the households, officials of the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) have also given a final shape to the long-pending issues of laying roads and constructing permanent structures for the local government offices in all the tribal hamlets in the district.
A.S. Dinesh Kumar, Project Officer of ITDA, along with the officials and local leaders, laid the foundation stone for construction of pre-fabricated anganwadi centre in Chaparayi on Tuesday and inaugurated a fair-price shop in the hamlet.
“We are opening these two units on a trial basis here. Based on the success of this anganwadi and the FP shop, we will open similar units in the rest of the hamlets,” said the official while chalking out the detailed plan of action that intended to ensure health and education to all the tribal people.
Even as the administration is on a mission to give a face-lift to the Agency, the ground realities are posing a challenge to its will. One can see a good number of school dropouts in almost all the hamlets along with the superstitious women folk. Absence of work and inefficient supply of foodgrains too making the lives miserable for many families that lack basic education. “My parents were worried about the movement of a tiger in the vicinity. That is why they did not allow me to go to high school,” Pallala Raja Reddy, a high school dropout from the hamlet, said. His friends too nodded in affirmation and each one of them citied a different reason – from lack of transportation to difficulty in learning the lessons – for dropping out from the school.
Major challenge
Absence of work is another major challenge for many families that resort to trades like pig grazing. “We don’t eat pigs. But, these animals are being used for sacrifice. If anyone suffers ill-health for a long, they buy a pig from us for ₹500 and offer it to the deity,” said Kondla Sinnamma, who built a separate hut for the domesticated boars abutting her hut.
“We came to know about ration cards very recently and applied for one. Millets formed part of our main course and the local cultivation is insufficient for our consumption,” said the head of an eight-member family.
“There are many challenges at the ground level. But, we are confident that we can overcome all those in a phased manner by educating the tribal people,” Mr. Dinesh Kumar said.
