The group of 44 households of Konda Reddy tribe, classified as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), now got a unique guest house built by the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA-Chintoor).
The guest house is otherwise is a progressive initiative that aimed at banning the tribe’s age-old unhygienic practice of ‘Evil House’.
According to practice, every household at Tekuloddi village in Kunavaram Mandal has a small hut.
The hut is called the ‘evil house’ in which it is mandatory that women of the family must stay during their menstruation period. Post-natal period, the women should also stay in the same house for 45 days. The same practice applies to girls when they attain puberty.
The Konda Reddy tribals believe that allowing women during their menstruation and post-natal period to stay along with the family would attract evil forces.
In December 2020, The Hindu carried an article on the evil practice with the title ‘Andhra tribe’s ‘evil house’- an epitome of menstrual taboo’. Later, the ITDA-Chintoor authorities swung into action to tackle the menstrual taboo of the Konda Reddy tribe along the Andhra Pradesh-Telangana border in East Godavari Agency.
Unique house
ITDA-Chintoor Project Officer A. Venkata Ramana on Friday inaugurated the guest house here. Mr. Ramana said it was an attempt to persuade the Konda Reddy tribals to give up their practice of the ‘evil house’ by utilising the guest house. The guest house has safe accommodation facilities with all hygienic precautions. It has two portions each with a three-bed facility.
“Three beds are dedicated for menstruating women. The other three beds are for women in the post-natal period. We have put every effort to convince the tribal people to ban their practice and realise the benefit of using the new guest house for their better health.” he added.
The local panchayat had been tasked to maintain the guest house and health care staff would also visit it often. The guest house is named after Divya, who passed away last year in the Tekuloddi village.
