Over 5,000 Kani tribals in 47 settlements in Kanykumari district are crying for basic amenities, according to S.R. Sekar, district president, Tamil Nadu Tribals’ Association (TNTA).
Mr Sekar, also president of Kadayal Town Panchayat under whose control 17 Kani settlements with over 200 families fall, said here on Sunday that the tribal people were living without basic amenities such as protected drinking water, roads, health care facilities and street lights.
Vellerukkumalai and Paruthimalai tribal settlements were part of Kadayal Town Panchayat. In spite of this, a majority of the funds from the Western Ghats Development Schemes were diverted to other urban and rural local bodies, said Mr Sekar.
The tribal people were forced to drink water from pits dug up on the banks of Chitrar I dam water spread area. A survey was carried out by the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board a few years ago to provide protected drinking water to them, but nothing had happened so far, he lamented.
