For as long as they can remember, their lives have been dictated by water. The residents of Thanthonni Thuruth have lost count of the number of times the treacherous waters of the Vembanad have toppled their traditional boats, sometimes claiming the lives of fellow islanders. Or, of the times the water came gushing into their homes during high tide. And yet, the 60-odd families of fish workers continue to depend on water for their livelihood.
Just over a kilometre away from the bustling Marine Drive, Thanthonni Thuruth in the Kochi backwaters cries for road connectivity. The only ways to travel to and from the roughly 110-acre island are through the ferry service operated by the Kerala State Water Transport Department or in the rickety wooden boats owned by the islanders.
“The ferry service is erratic and sometimes gets cancelled. We then have no other option but to depend on our boats,” says Reji T.S., a resident. “Office-goers and schoolchildren can never hope to reach on time. Often, they have to face the music at workplaces and schools,” he adds.
His mother’s eyes well up when she talks of the time her boat capsized while taking her pregnant daughter to a city hospital. They were saved by another bigger boat that came by, says Thankamma. Almost every islander has a similar tale to tell. Septuagenarian Thilothamma remembers the night her children helped her ailing brother-in-law get on to a boat to go to the city for treatment. But, he did not get to the other side alive.
Funerals on the island are even sadder, considering the difficulty involved in ferrying the body to the crematorium at Pachalam. “Sometimes, two boats have to be tied together. There have also been instances when boats carrying bodies have capsized,” says Ajith Kumar, a resident and social worker.
The only government institution on the island is an anganwadi. For everything else, the islanders have to take the precarious boat ride. The rains worsen their plight. Last August, the islanders spent nearly a week in relief camps after their homes were flooded. “But for us, flooding wasn’t new,” says Mr. Kumar. In the absence of a proper bund around the island, water enters homes during high tide. The saline water incursion has chipped away at houses, affecting their stability, and rendered unusable bio-toilets set up by the Kochi Corporation on residential plots. It submerges the public taps through which the islanders get their drinking water. A number of families have moved out due to the poor living conditions, says Mr. Reji. “This island is sinking. We are like rats caught in a trap,” says Mr. Kumar, adding that their long-pending demands for a bridge and an outer bund road have gone unheeded.
Councillor Ansa James says she has managed to get the Corporation’s approval for the funds needed to take up immediate infrastructure works on the island, but adds that no one is willing to execute the works due to the difficulties involved in transporting construction materials.
On the islanders’ demand for a bridge connecting Thanthonni Thuruth to Kochi city, Goshree Islands Development Authority (GIDA) Project Director Ramachandran says: “There is no such proposal before the GIDA at present.” Nearly, 90% of the area comprises wetlands, he says. The proposal for an outer bund or ring road around the island has been submitted by the Irrigation Department and is awaiting environmental clearance, he adds. A terminal of the Kochi Water Metro Project has been proposed at Thanthonni Thuruth and the introduction of the ferry service is expected to improve water connectivity to the city and neighbouring islands.
But, for the islanders it has been a long and painful wait. “I am too old now to get on the bridge even if it comes up. But, I want to die with the knowledge that at least my children will have access to one, to get out of the misery we have lived through,” says 89-year-old Ratnavalli.
