Narsipatnam RDO Ronanki Govinda Rao and officials of the revenue and tribal welfare departments crossed streams and trekked 7 km to the hill for more than three hours to meet the tribal villages of Jeelugulova in Chimalapadu panchayat of Ravikamatham mandal on Wednesday.
Jeelugulova village, located on the hill, is inhabited by 10 families and 50 members belonging to the Kondhu tribe. Of them, 14 children have not been issued birth certificates and hence could not obtain Aadhaar cards. Only three families have ration cards. They do not have employment assurance cards for work under the MGNREGS. None of them have voting rights, according to the villagers.
The villagers depend on stream water for drinking. They have to go to the PHC, 15 km away, for any health issues. They are being denied various facilities as the village is ‘non-existent’ in the records. In the absence of electricity, the tribal people live in constant fear of attacks by wild animals.
CPI(M) district secretariat member K. Govinda Rao and his team represented the matter to the officials on several occasions. The Andhra Pradesh Human Rights Commission took cognisance of the issue and directed the Andhra Pradesh Tribal Welfare Director, the Anakapalli Collector and the ITDA to study the issue and submit a report.
The officials started their trek at around 9.30 a.m. and reached the hilltop by around 1 p.m. The tribal people welcomed the officials. The Narsipatnam RDO, District Tribal Welfare Officer Naga Sirisha, Ravikamatham tahsildar Umamaheswara Rao and MDO Venkanna Babu were among those who visited the village.
The villagers apprised the officials of their problems. The CPI(M) leader said the officials had agreed to send an ANM twice a month to their village to record the weight of babies, measures would be taken to issue Aadhaar cards and birth certificates to the villagers at Kothakota within 10 days.
They agreed to write to the government for sanction of roads under the MGNREGS, and for sanction of an Anganwadi and provision of electricity.
