The COVID-19 pandemic has made life miserable for residents of Vinoba Nagar, once the labour colony at Kudremukh in Mudigere taluk.
The colony with about 150 families has been in a bad state for decades and the turn of events over COVID-19 has worsened the situation, with no job opportunities for the residents.
The residents were all once workers at Kudremukh Iron Ore Company (KIOCL), which stopped operations in 2005 following the Supreme Court’s order. While the permanent employees moved to different places, the contract labourers remained in their colony. They took up jobs in coffee plantations and construction sites.
Like an old-age home
Now, they hardly get job opportunities. The youth are forced to travel to distant places, leaving the elders at home. As a result, the colony now looks like an old-age home with hardly any caretakers.
The residents live in small houses with no proper roofing. As the place is known for heavy rain, they spend sleepless nights in the rainy season.
Even after years of struggle, the colony has not been attached to a local gram panchayat, denying them all necessities. No house has got electricity supply in the last 40 years. There is no water supply, roads and public transport.
Recently, a couple of COVID-19 cases were reported in Kalasa. As a result, the residents of the colony cannot go to work in the area around Kalasa. “Now the infection is spreading in rural areas. We are scared of going out, and people also hesitate to let us into their places for work,” pointed out Babu, a resident of the colony. Manjula, also a native of the colony, now stays put at Mudigere with her family. “We have moved out to Mudigere as there are no schools for our children near the colony. All that we need in the colony are basic needs to lead a decent life with dignity,” she said.
The colony falls in the limits of Samse Gram Panchayat, geographically. However, it has not been included in the panchayat. The people are hopeful that they would get at least some benefits if the area is brought under the panchayat. Anil, a resident of the colony, said: “We have rights to vote for Assembly and Parliament, but not the gram panchayat. We have been demanding that our locality be included under the panchayat so that we get minimum facilities,” he said.
Only source of income
Vikram Kudremukh, a documentary filmmaker and native of Vinoba Nagar, opined that people in big cities would find it difficult to even imagine that these people have been living without electricity supply for the last 40 years. “With the help of some people in Kalasa and nearby areas, the colony people get foodgrains. Besides that, the only source of income for majority in the colony is the old-age pension, provided by the government,” he said.
Since 2005, when KIOCL closed down its operations, the residents have been demanding rehabilitation. Their efforts prompted the district administration to identify land at Kalmakki near Kalasa. However, it did not proceed following the objections from that locality.
