Coimbatore: For over six years, the tribal communities from the hamlets of Kandiveli, Kondannur and Jambukandi in Anaikatti region have been forced to carry a baggage of woes due to the negligence of government. A population of around 70 families located in these hamlets has to always wait for a long time to get their basic needs.
Coimbatore: For over six years, the tribal communities from the hamlets of Kandiveli, Kondannur and Jambukandi in Anaikatti region have been forced to carry a baggage of woes due to the negligence of government. A population of around 70 families located in these hamlets has to always wait for a long time to get their basic needs.
Residents of these hamlets depend on jobs in the plantations and brick kilns in and around Thadagam, but the COVID the lockdown has rendered many of them obless while many got pay cuts too. With discontent continuing to brew amidst these tribal communities since six years ago, they are now stuck between the pandemic and incomelessness.
Palani, the president of the hamlets, said that people in these hamlets have to resort to low wage income as the pandemic has its impact everywhere.
“Before the pandemic, nearly one in four people were employed to a reasonable remuneration in plantations and brick kilns, but the situation is completely otherwise at present”, he added.
People accuse that except for providing a new ambulance to the hospital in Anaikatti, the present regime has not done anything better in these tough times.
A social activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity said that most of the houses built here were constructed during the former chief minister MGR's regime. Only a few new houses were built last year after the houses here were damaged in the heavy rainfall, he added.
For Selvam, a 50-year-old man belonging to Panapalli hamlet in the region, this pandemic is a harshe one.
As a sole breadwinner, Selvam has to shift himself from an employee in a Coimbatore vegetable market to a labourer in brick kilns. Before becoming a brick kiln worker, he used to travel around 58 kms daily.
“I used to work as a vegetable vendor in a shop in a market where I was paid a good remuneration. I lost my job during lockdown and now have to work in a brick kiln to save my family” Selvam told us. Refusing to mention his CTC at brick kilns, Selvam said he earns very little which just does not help him to make his ends meet.
Plantation workers say that lack of public transportation has come as a new threat and as most of them have to walk to their workplaces.
Mangalam, a 40-year-old woman from Kondanur Pudhur says that she has to walk from her house for about 15 kms to reach her workplace, located in the Anaikatti region, every day. She says she walks on a hilly and rough path everyday. “I started working at a plantation just to help my family meet our ends as the lockdown has brought us so many woes. Sometimes I walk all the way and sometimes I travel in the jeep arranged by the plantation management." She said.
After years of government apathy, there is no respite yet in sight for these hamlets. The people here allege that all their pleas and complaints have fallen on deaf ears. As the situation continues to be hostile for the locals here, youngsters and other unemployed persons are now in search of other options for making a livelihood. Manikandan, a school dropout, said, “I have to work in any shop in Coimbatore or near the Kerala border check post for a living.” For many like him in the hamlets, this seems to be the only hope.
(Names changed on request except Palani, president of one hamlet)
Residents of these hamlets depend on jobs in the plantations and brick kilns in and around Thadagam, but the COVID the lockdown has rendered many of them obless while many got pay cuts too. With discontent continuing to brew amidst these tribal communities since six years ago, they are now stuck between the pandemic and incomelessness.
Palani, the president of the hamlets, said that people in these hamlets have to resort to low wage income as the pandemic has its impact everywhere.
“Before the pandemic, nearly one in four people were employed to a reasonable remuneration in plantations and brick kilns, but the situation is completely otherwise at present”, he added.
People accuse that except for providing a new ambulance to the hospital in Anaikatti, the present regime has not done anything better in these tough times.
A social activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity said that most of the houses built here were constructed during the former chief minister MGR's regime. Only a few new houses were built last year after the houses here were damaged in the heavy rainfall, he added.
For Selvam, a 50-year-old man belonging to Panapalli hamlet in the region, this pandemic is a harshe one.
As a sole breadwinner, Selvam has to shift himself from an employee in a Coimbatore vegetable market to a labourer in brick kilns. Before becoming a brick kiln worker, he used to travel around 58 kms daily.
“I used to work as a vegetable vendor in a shop in a market where I was paid a good remuneration. I lost my job during lockdown and now have to work in a brick kiln to save my family” Selvam told us. Refusing to mention his CTC at brick kilns, Selvam said he earns very little which just does not help him to make his ends meet.
Plantation workers say that lack of public transportation has come as a new threat and as most of them have to walk to their workplaces.
Mangalam, a 40-year-old woman from Kondanur Pudhur says that she has to walk from her house for about 15 kms to reach her workplace, located in the Anaikatti region, every day. She says she walks on a hilly and rough path everyday. “I started working at a plantation just to help my family meet our ends as the lockdown has brought us so many woes. Sometimes I walk all the way and sometimes I travel in the jeep arranged by the plantation management." She said.
After years of government apathy, there is no respite yet in sight for these hamlets. The people here allege that all their pleas and complaints have fallen on deaf ears. As the situation continues to be hostile for the locals here, youngsters and other unemployed persons are now in search of other options for making a livelihood. Manikandan, a school dropout, said, “I have to work in any shop in Coimbatore or near the Kerala border check post for a living.” For many like him in the hamlets, this seems to be the only hope.
(Names changed on request except Palani, president of one hamlet)