A three-member team from the Singapore Red Cross Society (SRCS) visited 12 tribal habitations of Chenchu tribals in the Nallamalla forests in Prakasam district on Friday.
The team led by SRCS functionary M. Satya observed the living condition of the Chenchus, who belong to the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), living in sparsely populated Chenchugudems in and around Dornala.
‘’The Chenchus who eke out a living by collecting forest produce in the rugged hilly terrain in the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR) used to rush to climb a tree on seeing strangers in their locality. But now, they are mingling freely with people from the plains, thanks to repeated visits by Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) Prakasam chapter volunteers to establish rapport with them,” said IRCS Prakasam district chairman Prakash Babu, who accompanied his counterparts from Singapore.
‘‘The Chenchugudems looks clean and tidy now after our intervention,” he added.
They needed livelihood support, including soft loans from financial institutions and marketing facilities to sell cotton, chilli and other crops raised on the lands distributed under the Forest Rights Act, explained a tribal man Bhumani Ankanna.
The SRCS team members promised to extend SRCS’ support to increase their levels of income to lead a better life. The happiness of the tribal children knew no bounds as the SRCS team members distributed new dresses and education aids to the tribal children.
Many of the tribals suffered from health issues, including malnutrition, said Mr. Babu, after arranging for medical treatment for a sick tribal man in one of the Chenchugudems. ‘‘We are doing our best to create awareness among them to improve their health condition’‘, he added.
