For those who tom-tom India’s achievements, its digital prowess and the number of billionaries it can now boast of, a visit to some of the most remote places in Karnataka could serve as a shocking eye-opener. Forget power, medical facilities or good roads, people in these villages do not even have a shop in a radius of several kilometres to buy a matchbox! It is for this precise reason that many citizens in the state consider Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s recent Grama Vastavya, or village stay programme as more of a political gimmick rather than an honest effort to help them to solve their decades old problems. For these villages in the forests of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts are completely cut off especially during the monsoon and have no access to modern facilities or healthcare. In many villages, the government has not been able to provide power even seven decades after Independence with people depending on mini hydel projects on their land or solar lights to carry on day-to-day activity. Gururaj A. Paniyadi visited some of these villages in the coastal districts where people would love the chief minister to stay and get a firsthand experience of what they go through every day. This would definitely be a better learning experience than the ‘artificial ambience’ the CM encountered during the first leg of the Grama Vastavya when everything including the streets, schools and even toilets were hastily spruced up to meet urban standards and make sure Mr Kumaraswamy did not face any discomfort.
Before returning home to Kendige, his village in a deep forest in Uttara Kannada district, Sanjay ensures his mobile is fully charged at his friend’s house so that it will last for at least two to three days. He also makes sure that he carries all the grocery and medical needs and forgets nothing.
Reason: If he forgets even a matchbox, Sanjay has to travel about 16 km of which he has to walk for about 8 km crossing about ten streams to reach the nearest shop. His village, Kendige, is hardly known to outsiders and villagers don’t recall any IAS or IPS officer visiting them in recent times or a political leader or minister passing via their habitat.
What makes things more difficult for Kendige residents is the fact that during the monsoon, the village is completely cut off from the rest of the district and it becomes virtually impossible to cross the streams which are yet to have bridges built across them.
One incident is more than enough to sum up the plight of these isolated people. When Sanjay's wife was about to give birth, he ensured she stayed at her parents’ house not only during delivery but also for about eight months after that. Sanjay's daughter has just started going to school and he is forced to send her to her grandparents’ house.
"Our life has been like this for decades. We are about 30 km away from Ankola and hardly have any basic amenities. There is no proper road, bridge, communication facility or power supply. Education and health facilities are a distant dream for us. After great difficulty, we managed to get a school for the village but the officials transferred the teacher as the number of children was less. I don’t want my daughter to travel 16 km to school every day and so left her at my in-law's place," Sanjay explains.
"Even a matchbox is hard to get, the nearest place we can get it is Hattikeri, situated about 16 km from our village. We walk or depend on our cycles or other vehicles during summer. But from June to December, during the rainy season, we are completely cut off from other places. To reach Hattikeri, we have to walk at least 9 km crossing about 10 streams and then depend on private vehicles," he says.
The situation is no different in nearby villages like Gule, Malani, Majre, Kotebavi, Sheveguli, Shirve and others. It turns pathetic during the monsoon when no one can afford to fall sick for there are no proper transport or communication facilities.
And what if someone falls ill or develops serious health problems? Villagers run a distance not less than 1 km to get a mobile signal and then requisition a private vehicle which arrives at a certain point. The patient is then carried across the streams and taken to the vehicle pick-up point.
In some villages where people get weak network signals because of the elevation, mobiles can be seen tied to trees so that signals are received and calls made on the spot!
"Crossing the steams itself is a big challenge. There are days when we have waited till the evening to cross them because of the strong current which could wash us away," Sanjay says.
A heart rending case is that of Nyama Santha Gowda of Kotebavi village near Kendige who lost his leg in 2014 but could not go for treatment as his village was completely cut off due to heavy rain. Though he was provided treatment later with the help of Jana Shakthi Vedike president Madhav Naik, his condition deteriorated and about two years ago, he died.
Venkatramana Gowda of Kendige who fell from an arecanut tree recently, had to be literally carried for about 6 km and then taken in a vehicle to hospital. Similar was the case of Gaddu Gowda. Luckily, both are recovering.
The monsoon brings ‘lightless’ days and nights for power supply is stopped from June to November. "As there is a possibility of heavy rains and wind creating problems, power supply is stopped for at least four months. The Zilla Panchayat had provided solar power facilities but these too develop problems. So we do the best thing we can—we charge our mobiles when we go to Hattikeri or Gule," he says.
Pregnancy and childbirth bring joy to most families but not here. "Women in my village and nearby villages go to a relative’s house near the town so that they can easily reach the hospital from there. After delivery, they stay there for 3-4 months and then return to the village," he says.
The situation is no different in other villages in the foothills of the Western Ghats in the coastal and Malnad districts. Uttara Kannada district with 75 per cent forest cover is obviously the worst hit.
There are similar stories from villages in Joida, Haliyal, Karwar, Kumta and Ankola where villagers prefer to travel to Goa rather than Uttara Kannada as it is easier. And if one were to look at the situation in Dakshina Kannada, the plight of Yelaneeru and Bangrapalike villages is a classic example.
These village are situated within Kudremukh National Park forest and people have to walk at least 9 km to reach the nearest shop. The tribals, the Malekudiya community of Bangrapalke village, are cut off when 'Yelaneeru Halla,' a major tributary of Netravathi gets flooded. To reach their gram panchayat office, the villagers have to trek 9 km through thick forests battling leeches and wild animals like tigers, leopard, tuskers and wild boar. This is a traditional road but forest officials have said a strict no to proposals to develop it as it comes under the national park.
There is an alternate route to reach the panchayat office or police station—they have to walk 8 km to Samse (in Chikkamagalur district), take a bus from there to Bajagoli (Udupi district) and then to Belthangady and finally reach Malavanthige (Dakshina Kannada district). This long route involves travelling about 120 km and takes at least half a day!
“With forest officials not allowing development of the road, we are facing many problems,” a villager, Arun Kumar explained.
Even getting a bride for someone living in these villages is not easy. " People hesitate as they do not want their daughter to live in a secluded village which hardly has any facility," Arun says. And most of the disputes in the village are settled through talks as people feel going to the police station, situated about 100 km away is itself a punishment.
Yelaneeru, Badamane, Guthyadka and Bangrapalke—there are many such habitats under Malavanthige gram panchayat in Belthangady taluk of Dakshina Kannada on the border with Chikkamagalur where the nearest shop or school is several kilometres away. To get to a hospital, people have to go to Kalasa, a full 15 km away from the village.
Anganwadis and primary health centres are not heard of in these places forcing people to carry patients for about 3 kms and then avail a drive in a jeep to Kalasa which is about 15 kms away.
Educating kids is a big problem here like in many other remote villages. There is a government primary school at Guthyadka but it has very few students as they have to walk about 5 km across a hill to reach the school. Parents choose the easy option—they leave their children at a relative’s place for schooling or make them study in residential schools after primary education is over.
Bangrapalke has over 15 tribal Malekudiya families. Yelaneeru, Gutyadka and Badamane have Jains, Gowdas and other communities. The total population is about 1000. Most of the people in these secluded villages want the government to put in an extra effort and provide basic amenities as they do not want to leave their village and settle somewhere else.
"The government should lay a proper road which will solve most of our problems as we will be able to travel faster to the nearest town. If they can’t do it, they should at least provide proper compensation and 10 cents of land so that we can resettle near the town," says Arun Kumar.
Will places like Kendige ever change? Will the residents, who are forced by ancestry and circumstances to live in these villages, ever get a chance to enjoy the best of facilities and live like others do in Karnataka? Maybe Mr Kumara swamy could shift his sights from the easily accessible villages in Raichur and Kalaburagi and trek the path not taken before by any politico, which would make a lot of difference to the lives of these hapless villagers.
