Pulppalli: Sickle cell anemia patients living along the forest fringes of Wayanad are crying out for help, alleging that the government has abandoned them to a life of hardship and neglect.

Deprived of proper medical care, housing and nutrition, most of them continue to live in leaking shacks. With the government’s rehabilitation package prepared ten years ago now derailed, they have lost all hope of ever receiving land or a house of their own.

It was the then State Government led by Oommen Chandy which had introduced a rehabilitation package promising a new beginning for these patients. Under the scheme, beneficiaries were provided one acre of land, a house and access to basic amenities. Land was even purchased in various parts of the district, including six acres in Kappikkunnu under Pulpalli panchayat, at the  cost of ₹16 lakh per acre. The land was registered in the names of six families.

However, with a change in government, the initiative was left incomplete. Promised homes were never built, roads were never laid and basic utilities never arrived. The 6-acre plot has now turned into overgrown stretches teeming with wild vegetation and wildlife. Today, the  land has become a haunt for wild boars, monkeys and even herds of elephants, making habitation dangerous and unfeasible. A building constructed on the plot has since collapsed due to disuse and neglect.

One of the beneficiaries, Cheera of Kottamurattu Unnathi, was allotted an acre of land under the scheme. After her husband Kuliyan passed away, she spent years running from office to office seeking a house on her plot. Cheera, who lived in a crumbling shack with help from neighbours, also died four years ago. Once cultivated and yielding, her plot too was trampled and destroyed by elephants after human activity ceased.

The situation is no better for others, both those included in the original package and those left out. Most of them live in dire poverty, unable to afford nutritious food and suffer from the worsening effects of chronic illness. To make matters worse, their pensions have been irregular.

Left to fend for themselves, these patients are now making a desperate appeal to the government to provide the dignity and care they were once assured.