Outlook English - Print Subscribers Copy Outlook English, 17 September 2018 | Page 25
Smashed Shantha and family in
front of their destroyed house
u NREL IEVED
A Closed Kingdom
Aghin komachi
Kerala’s tribals aren’t getting vital post-flood aid
by Thufail P.T. in Thrissur
and Wayanad
W
hen Kerala faced its worst
flood in a century, the tribal
population was first in the
firing line. The hills of
Wayanad, Thrissur, and
Idukki, where dam gates
were opened for the first time in years,
are where adivasi communities in the
state are concentrated. Outlook deci
ded to visit some of these colonies
after obtaining clear leads from
activist sources that tribals were still
stranded even as late as August 25, and
that neither relief nor media a
ttention
was reaching them.
When we telephone Thrissur’s super
intendent of police (SP), he is dismissive
of the notion that adivasis have been
affected on a large scale. The district
collector has little to add, directing us to
the tribal development officer (TDO)—
who says much the same, and warns us
that there could be restrictions on ent
ering the colonies, although media may
be permitted.
As we travel towards the Athirappilly
waterfalls in Thrissur district, we see
evidence of at least five landslides within
two kilometres. At Athirappilly police
station, assistant sub-inspector (ASI)
M.A. Baby tells us that they started evac
uating people on August 15. At least six
houses were washed away within his
jurisdiction alone. There were six relief
camps, two of which are still operational.
The ASI shares data from his jurisdiction
and neighbouring ones, and his figures
show that—contrary to what the SP,
collector and TDO have told us—adivasis
have
indeed been aff
ected in large
numbers, with hundreds having taken
refuge in relief camps.
When we reach the check post at
Vazhachal, we find a group of tribals and
some relief workers quarrelling with
forest officers. Minu Saara, who runs the
Misara Charitable Trust in Ernakulam,
tells us they’ve come to distribute vital
relief items, but, “forest offi cers asked us
to drop the materials at the check post,
saying they would distribute it later.
When we said we wanted to ensure it
reached the colonies, they said they
could call tribals to the check post and
hand it over to them directly. Tribals
came, but they refused to carry the
materials on their own, demanding that
we be allowed inside. It led to an
argument,” she explains.
“It is highly probable
that tribal areas hit by
the disaster may even
see starvation in the
coming days.”
The relief workers leave, and we also
turn back when we are denied entry. The
district forest officer had allowed us to
proceed earlier, but when we call him
now, he claims that written permission is
required. However, we see the relief
workers returning to the check post,
accompanied by some local political
workers. They argue with the offi cers and
trespass, and we follow. They distribute
materials at the first colony, just 10 feet
beyond the check post. The river has
smashed its way through some of the
houses and, still furious, continues to
flow nearby. One sympathetic forest
officer shows us a video on his phone of a
dam overflowing.
We want to visit more colonies in the
interior parts, but the range forest offi cer
(RFO) arrives and calls us to an office at
the check post. We question him about
denying entry to the media and civil soci
ety, to which his response is that it’s a
sensitive area. Earlier, a man who had
come for relief work turned out to be a
suspect in a ganja case. The RFO claims
that forest officials are delivering relief
materials in the colonies and that only
eight families were affected by the flood.
When we tell him we saw at least eight
houses affected when we entered just
one colony, he is speechless.
Adivasi Gotra Maha Sabha leader M.
Geethanandan tells Outlook that the
forest officials are denying entry even to
relief in order to continue using those
areas as their fiefdom. He claims that it is
more blatant in Attappadi, where the
Integrated Tribal Development Project’s
(ITDP) nodal officer has issued an order
forbidding outsiders from entering adi
vasi colonies for relief work.
“Tribals are already displaced due to
development. This disaster is going to
displace them further,” says Geethanan
dan, adding, “Mechanisation in agricul
ture has caused them to lose jobs.
Destruction of agricultural land due to
the flood and landslides will further
make them jobless. It is highly probable
that tribal areas hit by the disaster may
even see starvation in the coming days.”
In Chaligadha, Wayanad, on the banks
of Kabani, the tribal residents show us
the vast area of destroyed crop land.
“Truckloads of soil are needed to reclaim
it,” says a resident, Shantha. O
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