Protest by tribals debunks govt. claim of development

Residents of 24 villages in N. Beguru gram panchayat allege lack of amenities

Even as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has launched a whirlwind tour of the State to highlight the development works through a series of Sadhana Samaveshas, a protest by a group of tribals here on Wednesday put a question mark on such claims being made by the government. Residents of the villages bordering the forests accused the government of insensitivity towards their plight and raised slogans against the authorities.

“There are 24 villages in the N. Beguru gram panchayat in H.D. Kote taluk of Mysuru district most of which do not have drinking water facility,” said Chandrashekar, an activist belonging to the farmers wing of the All India Democratic Youth Organisation (AIDYO), which was leading the agitation. There are roads only on paper but nothing in reality and even ambulances cannot reach some of the village clusters owing to lack of connectivity, he added.

Scores of tribals drawn from the 24 villages participated in the protest and pointed out that they have been deprived of three basic amenities — drinking water facility, road, and electricity — and their conditions have not improved despite the “development projects” announced by the government.

N. Begur is located between the Kabini backwaters and Bandipur National Park, and they were resettled in 1973 after their villages were inundated consequent to the completion of the Kabini reservoir. Twenty of the 24 villages still do not have drinking water facility and are forced to drinking contaminated groundwater or share the waterholes used by animals, said the tribals

They said the road leading from Kempanahaadi to Gandathuru is riddled with potholes as a result of which transportation of the sick to hospital is a Herculean task.

What is dismaying is that the river water flows close to the hamlets but the area lacks facility to provide potable water for the residents while the same is pumped for hundreds of kilometres to quench the thirst of residents living in cities, according to the agitating villagers.

Members of Raitha Krishi Karmikara Sanghatane said the prevailing conditions in tribal hamlets is in contrast to the claims being made by the government which is tom-toming across the State of “development” through Sadhana Samaveshas by spending crores of rupees.

Officials of the Mysuru zilla panchayat, who later met the tribals, promised to pay a visit to the hamlets and take up the works on priority basis.