The miseries faced by residents of the remote Edamalakudy tribal panchayat in this hilly district will soon be history as the Kerala government has decided to step in to remedy the basic issues of accessibility and mobile connectivity in this hamlet.
Edamalakudy is the first tribal panchayat of the state and is located about 30 kilometres away from the tourist town Munnar in Idukki district. However, this panchayat does not even have a panchayat office due to lack of infrastructure there and is currently operating from Devikulam.
State Minister for Welfare of Backward and Scheduled Communities K Radhakrishnan told PTI that a high-power committee has taken decisions on road connectivity, construction of a panchayat office, transportation facilities among others, in accordance with rules and regulations of the forest department.
"The government aims to improve the accessibility to the tribal hamlets in the state. We intend to improve the road connectivity to provide electricity, telephone connectivity, drinking water and internet connectivity at Edamalakudy," Radhakrishnan said.
He said the government aims to boost connectivity and solve the basic issues faced by the inhabitants while retaining the inherent nature of the tribal settlement.
A habitation of Muthuvan community, comprising around 3,000 people, belonging to over 750 families are living in more than 25 settlements in this village.
Currently the Iddlipparakkadu-Pettimudi road in Edamalakudy has been made motorable by the forest department.
The high-power committee, which met on September 28, has decided that the Public Works Department needs to take over and start the construction of a better road within three months after receiving necessary procedural permissions from the SC/ST Development Department.
"Currently, the panchayat office is functioning from Devikulam. The Local Self Government Department, the SC/ST Development Department and the Forest Department will take steps to seek and grant necessary permissions for the construction of a panchayat office there strictly adhering to rules and regulations of the Forest Department," the minister said.
He said a survey will be conducted to identify the houses in the hamlet and to find out how many are actually habitable.
The panel has also decided to form a coordination committee to monitor and evaluate the development activities planned for Edamalakudy.
The Devikulam sub-collector will be the chairman of the coordination committee while the Devikulam MLA will be the patron. The committee will comprise block panchayat president, grama panchayat president, district/block division members concerned, panchayat members among others as members.
The state government had in March this year sanctioned over Rs 4 crore to provide internet connectivity to this remote hamlet in the state through optical fibre network to be implemented by BSNL.
The high-power committee has also decided to hold talks with the BSNL to speed up internet connectivity.