The tragic death of a toddler in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district in the last week of May due to snake bite because her family couldn’t access medical care fast enough due to lack of a motorable road has spurred the district administration to action. District authorities surveyed the forest path to Athimarathu Kollai village in Anaicut taluk of Vellore on May 29, after the death of the child sparked outrage.
A team of officials from the district administration and the state departments of revenue and forest surveyed a stretch of 7.1km mud road, which connects the Athimarathu Kollai village to the nearest bitumen road. A 5.2km long stretch of the mud road passes through a reserve forest. Building a pucca road is not easy as the construction would require permission from the Union government. Until the road construction is completed, Malayali tribespeople from Alleri Hill panchayat have no other recourse than walking or using two-wheelers, which is a risky venture because of the pitiable condition of the mud road. Malayali is a tribal group found in the Eastern Ghats of northern Tamil Nadu.
Dhanushka, the third child of Vijay and Priya, a Malayali tribal couple, staying in Athimarathu Kollai village would not have lost her life if there was a healthcare facility nearby and a motorable road that can be used by ambulances in times of health emergencies. Though the couple found a two-wheeler to take the child to the hospital, Priya had to physically carry the 18-month-old child and walk for around 6 km to reach the hospital as the vehicle broke down.
Dhanushka, who was sleeping next to her mother outside her house, owing to the hot weather, got bitten by a snake on the night of May 26 when she briefly left her child alone to use the restroom. "My wife saw the snake next to my daughter and panicked. It was around 9pm. Since there was no Primary Health Care Center (PHC) nearby, we took her to a hospital, which is 20 km away from our village, on a two-wheeler," said Vijay.
This tragedy exposed the hardships faced by tribespeople, who live in reserve and protected forests in the state in the absence of basic infrastructure like roads and healthcare.
Dhanushka's family members carrying the remains of the toddler
“We reached Varadalampattu by walking and managed to get an autorickshaw to reach the hospital in Anaicut,” said Vijay, recalling the horrendous experience.
Dhanushka was quite pale when she was brought to the Anaicut hospital. The doctors placed Dhanushka in an oxygen incubator and treated her with an anti-venom injection. “They had tried some traditional medicines but they did not help her. The neurotoxins had paralysed her veins and muscles and she stopped responding to the treatment,” said Dr Preethi, who treated Dhanushka.
Dr Preethi said they referred the baby to a nearby government hospital. She was taken to Adukamaparai Government Hospital in a 108 ambulance but the doctors declared that she was no more.
“Tribespeople from hilly areas either visit our Anaicut Hospital or Odukathur Hospital for treatment. Pregnant tribal women also have to come all the way down for regular checkups,
The toddler's body was handed over to the couple after a postmortem examination on Saturday, May 27. The ambulance transported the couple and their child’s remains back to Alleri village. But owing to the poor condition of the road, the ambulance could not travel up to the village. Dhanushka's family members were left with no choice but to carry her remains to her house on foot.
Land suvery conducted for a road to Athimarathu Kollai tribal village
Dhanushka’s father Vijay is one of the 2800 residents who uses the mud road to commute from Athimarathu Kollai village to nearby towns. He wants Dhanushka to be the last person from the village to have lost life due to bad roads. “For medical emergencies, we have to use the makeshift stretcher to cover the 6 km stretch to the Varadalampattu, a village located at the foothills of Alleri, where we arrange the ambulance for medical assistance,” said Vijay.
“No one should leave this world soon like my daughter,”Vijay said.
Sundaresan, the deputy panchayat president of Alleri Hill, told TNM that in his panchayat, 14 villages lack road facilities and residents have to commute on mud roads using motorbikes.
“We have been urging the government to construct the roads as early as 2008. But, they denied our basic rights saying the villages are located inside reserve forests and construction can be done only after permission from the Union government.” said Sundaresan.
Talking to TNM, Arthi, Project Director, District Rural Development Agency of Vellore, said the work on the road will begin once the Union government approves the project. “A survey was done to measure the length of the road that has to be laid inside the forest land and the number of trees to be felled for the project,” she said.
After completing the assessment, the Vellore district administration would upload the details to the Parivesh online portal to get approval from the Union government. “Forest department secretary, Tamil Nadu, has assured us that she would take all the necessary steps to get the approval of the project from the Union government,” Arthi said.
S Mohan Kumar, Erode district convener of Tamil Nadu Pazhangudi Makkal Sangam, told TNM that Forest Conservation Act allows using the forest for non-forest purposes. "Laying roads inside the forests is not tough as they claim. The administration has to compensate the Forest Department for the lost land. For instance, if any development project inside the forest needs one acre of forest land, the administration has to give double the value of the land if it is a degraded forest. If they plan to give revenue land as compensation, they just have to allocate the equivalent amount of land to the forest department" he explained further.
According to him, In India, in the last decade alone, several lakh hectares of forest lands have been cleared for mega development projects like dams and mines. "But, unfortunately, these rules have not been followed to empower the indigenous communities by introducing modern-day amenities to them. This death of the toddler is the result of the sheer negligence of the government and its lack of interest towards the welfare of tribes,” he said.