Where a bridge connects more than shores

Can the Kudumbasree’s micro-level planning endeavour do what governments over the years could not do for the people of Kobrankal in the past 25 years?

That is what the people in this tribal area near Vithura hope as they help trained animators of the Kudumbasree prepare maps detailing what their tribal settlement wants. They, for over two decades now, have been waiting for repairs to the only bridge that provided their children an easy route to their school in Anappara.

Now, the children have to take a longwinded detour to reach the school, which is about four kilometres from their home. Starting the daily trek at 6 a.m., the children return only after dusk. Rains are a nightmare, with many forced to miss classes and crucial examinations tooo. Some are forced to shift to hostels so that their education is not affected.

Parents too are a concerned lot, waiting every day for the safe return of their wards. Says Vasantha Kumari: “I am afraid to send my daughter to school during the rainy season as floods are a possibility. We want our children to learn and get good jobs, but we are worried about their safety. If we could get a vehicle to take them to school every day and bring them home, it would be a great help.”

And so when Kudumbasree officials, including Geetha Philip, district coordinator, and Antony Kunnath, faculty of the Praxis India Institute for Participatory Practices, visited the tribal settlement as part of the Kudumbasree’s micro-level planning programme, Ms. Vasantha Kumari and the other villagers were more than enthusiastic about becoming part of the endeavour, which is the first of its kind in the country where all tribal hamlets in the State are being involved in planning for their own development.

Proper healthcare, for which even emergency patients have to be taken to Anappara, has taken a beating in the absence of the bridge. Electricity too remains a dream for the eight settlements and 55 houses at Kobrankal.

“Another issue is that there is no proper sanitation facility in many of these households,” say Preetha, animator of the Kudumbasree Mission and resident of Kobrankal.

With the programme taking note of all these, hope has started burning bright again for the people of Kobrankal.