“I don’t mind even if I end up losing this work. I pray that the bridge is built soon, and the people’s woes come to an end,” says Saju, the sole boatman at Kumbichal Kadavu in the Amboori grama panchayat.
It is just after noon on Tuesday, and Saju says he has made countless trips ferrying voters and other people across the Neyyar. One among them is a couple from Balaramapuram who first plan to drop into their house across the river at Thodumala and then head towards the Puravimala school to cast their votes.
Besides the Puravimala school, voters of Thodumala ward are voting at another booth – the Jagratha Samithi office or what they prefer to call the community hall, just a quick climb from the small ghat.
Woken up at night
Saju lives at Thodumala and says he still gets woken up at night to take people across in cases of emergency. Even if not a polling day, there is good movement of people across the river for there is no other way across, he says. The other way is to reach here by road - through Tamil Nadu.
Parts of a structure of a bridge that had been promised years ago are covered by wild growth now.
There was talk of Forest Department approval for the bridge and the work starting a couple of months ago, but voters feel it was all an election ploy, and nothing more. “We have to go to Amboori for everything, but the bridge remains a dream. There is no dearth of promises one election after another, but to no avail though we have held many protests. ”
Lives, including that of children, have been lost in the water, says Vijaya Uthami, a former Tribal Department promoter.
Children often do not complete their education. They can study up to class five at the Puravimala school, and then have to study at Amboori or in hostels. Returning from Kattakada or Thiruvananthapuram that are further away means it is dark by the time they reach home, that too in dangerous conditions.
“Mothers here just give birth to their children; they cannot keep their children with them and love them like others of our ilk. We are forced to send the children away when still young so that they can study.”
The bridge, though, is not their sole worry. Poor roads, lack of sturdy houses, animal attacks and loss of crops, and lack of drinking water are some of their other concerns.
There are 12 to 13 tribal settlements in Thodumala, the biggest ward of Amboori, and many trek km to cast their votes or catch the boat from Kumbichal Kadavu.
For the three candidates here - Remya Babu of the Congress, Molly Mathew of the LDF, and Soumya Suresh of the BJP – this election is an opportunity to make a lasting difference here. The first step being the bridge across the Neyyar.
