Image for representation only. AP/File photoMunnar: An ambitious scheme by the Kerala government to eliminate middlemen in the public distribution system has left the tribal community in a remote hilly village on the brink of starvation.
The civil supplies department has started distributing foodgrains and other essential commodities directly to the local ration shops from June 1 by doing away with wholesale distributors. Ironically, the plan that aims at making available groceries “at the doorsteps” has threatened to deprive the Idamalakkudi tribal hamlets of their lifeline.
The enclave in the forest along the Western Ghats cannot be accessed by vehicles. Porters have to carry loads of rice and other commodities up the forest path to Edamalakkudi. The tribal cooperative in charge of transporting the commodities doesn’t know who will pay them under the new system.
Members of the Devikulam Girijan Cooperative Society has been carrying about 15,000 kilos of rice a month for the 585 ration card holders spread over the hamlets of Societykudi and Parappayar. They would collect the commodities from the procurement center at Pettimudi, 25 kilometers from Munnar, and carry them on their heads to the hamlets.
The hard work had been paid by the subsidies granted by the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes department but the taking over of the distribution network by the civil supplies department may lead to a change in the arrangement.
Even the new “at the doorstep” scheme has to rely on the porters to carry the loads to the ration shops atop the hill but the porters have not been given any word on who will pay them.
The government already owes Rs 7 lakh to the tribal cooperative as headload charges. The society is left with only enough money to pay the porters for a month at the most.
The new scheme may spell a disaster for the tribesmen of Edamalakkudi this rainy season if the government did not act to clear the confusion.
