More than 300 families residing in the settlement of Chinna Karumpalam at Ubathalai near Coonoor fear that the recent rain in the Nilgiris could cause landslips and have called on the local village panchayat to construct revetments and retaining walls around the village.
Local residents said that the hundreds of daily wage workers and their families been demanding improvements to the infrastructure of the settlement, especially those living along the upper portions of the hill. “While there have been improvement works done in some portions of the settlement, including laying of footpaths and maintenance work on drainage, there has not been a whole lot of work done to ensure that people living in the upper portions of the hill are safeguarded from landslips,” said P Ganesh, a resident.
A. Melamma, one of the residents whose house is most at risk, said that her home has been damaged over the last few years during the monsoon. “We have patched up our house with strips of rubber and plastic sheet after a minor landslip led to a portion of our wall collapsing, almost injuring me and my husband who were sleeping inside the house at the time,” she said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Residents also said that the Early-Warning System, which had been installed in their settlement a few years ago was not functional, and have called on the local village panchayat and the district administration to put up revetment walls along the upper slopes, as well as build pathways or repair the ones which are currently damaged. “The only way to reach the top of the hill where our house is to ascend vertically over a series of more than 70 steps. As the recent spell of rain has damaged them, the pathway has become extremely hard to climb, especially for the elderly,” added Melamma.