Express News Service
PATHANAMTHITTA: “If this situation continues, we all may not be in Gavi during the time of next assembly polls. Our hardships are beyond words. We don’t have any hospital and education facilities. The main issue for us is that phones have no use in Gavi as we don’t have network coverage. Many people in my village still don’t know how to handle an ordinary phone. How we can live here?” requested 34-year-old Padmanabhan Selvaraj, who belongs to one of many Sri Lankan Tamil households residing at Gavi in Pathanamthitta district.
He was speaking to TNIE after casting his vote on the Kerala Forest Development Corporation (KFDC) workplace at Gavi in ward III of Seethathodu grama panchayat on Tuesday. He reached Gavi from Pathanamthitta city after travelling 60km by means of deep forest.
“Though I am a voter of Kochu Pamba, I can’t live here as I am doing contract work of KSEB. Daily, I get several work-related calls. If I stay here, I cannot use phones. Here, we also don’t have hospitals and schools. So, I stay in the town area temporarily with my wife and children for better living conditions,” he mentioned.
As many as 699 voters stay in Gavi, Kochu Pamba, Meenar, Pathinalam Mile and 18 Inch Colony of Konni meeting constituency within the scenic forest space. Of them, 680 voters belong to Sri Lankan Tamil households. They communicate Sinhala, Tamil and Malayalam. The Election Commission had arrange two polling cubicles for Sri Lankan Tamil households — one at Gavi and the opposite at Kochu Pamba — for the meeting polls.
Though their residing circumstances are pathetic, they actively took half within the meeting polls on Tuesday.“We live in a reserved forest area. Hence, we will not get land in our names. We live in the layams (workers’ quarters). We don’t want land. Every part of the world has phone and internet connectivity these days. But here, phones do not have any use. Even when there is a medical emergency or death, we have to travel kilometres to hire a vehicle. If we have phone network coverage, our lives will become easier. We have only one LP school in Gavi which was started five years ago. We also dodn’t have a hospital and ambulance facilities here. If we need any of these facilities, we have to go to Vallakadavu, Vandiperiyar and Tamil Nadu,” mentioned Ramajayam R.
Mahendran Veeraiha, 42, mentioned Tamils, who had gone to Sri Lanka earlier, have been introduced again to India as a part of an settlement signed between the 2 governments in 1964. “Our mother and father reached Gavi from Sri Lanka within the Seventies. Earlier, round 700 Sri Lankan Tamil households stayed right here. They cleared some portion of the thick forest and began cultivating crops.
They work in cardamom plantation of KFDC and the Gavi eco-tourism challenge. During Seventies, the each day wage of a employee was solely `4.50. At current, the wage is `436. “The retirement age is 58 and after that, we meet our expenses using pension,” mentioned Mahendran, who works as a clerk within the KFDC. Now, solely 360 Sri Lankan Tamil households stay right here now. Several others left for Vandiperiyar, Vallakadavu, Kollam and Tamil Nadu for higher residing circumstances.
