: With no schools and buses that are happy to skirt it citing bad roads, Keel Shenbagathoppu, located at the foothills of Jawadu hills here, shares its fate with many other tribal villages that are a victim of official neglect and apathy. But what made outsiders take note of Keel Shenbagathoppu is the fact that seven of the 32 people who were recently arrested by Andhra Pradesh on charges of being involved in illegal felling of red sanders are from the village.
With their land taken away for the Shenbagathoppu Reservoir, villagers here look at access to education as the only hope for the future. Says Venkatesh, a resident: “Since there is no school in the village, we send our children to Mel Shenbagathoppu, a neighbouring village. Students need to cross the river using an iron overbridge and take a narrow path along the hill and forest for 2 km to reach the school.
Many of us prefer to enrol our children in government schools in Arani and make them stay in government hostels there. However, the hostels are very unhygienic.”
There are three buses operated between Shenbagathoppu and Arani. Their timing too syncs with school timings. But instead of coming up to the village, the bus stops at Shenbagathoppu reservoir located a few kilometers away because they claim the road is in shambles. If we could send our children to Arani on this bus, we won’t be forced to put them in hostels,” he said.
With limited or no scope for work and education at the village, many parents are forced to take up a job in far off places.
And some times, in their desperation to pay for their children’s education and other expenses, some parents fall prey to the temptation of easy but illegal money, some villagers say.
