The Hindu : Locals join hands to protect Meenmutty

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 12, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Others

Locals join hands to protect Meenmutty

By S. Anil Radhakrishnan

NEDUMANGAD, FEB. 11. Over 128 families residing on the fringes of forest at Kallar, en route to the hill resort of Ponmudi, have joined hands with the Forest Department to protect 200 hectares of forest land and to regain the old glory of Kallar and Meenmutty waterfalls.

Besides protecting the fragile ecosystem and removing the waste thrown by the visitors, the volunteers of the Kallar Vana Samrakshana Samithy is also offering guided tour for the tourists to the Meenmutty waterfalls, 2 km from Kallar.

The Samithy, which started functioning in November 1 last year, has also been effective in checking the frequent clashes between the visitors and the locals near Kallar, drowning of visitors in the whirlpool and flash floods and entry of anti-socials into the forest. As many as eight students of the Government Dental College, Thiruvananthapuram were drowned in the locality on October 13, 1991 while taking a dip in the river.

Five to six volunteers of the Samithy are provided employment in the Kallar-Meenmutty area on a daily basis, according to the Samithy president, R. Ashok Kumar. The volunteers, attired in blue jacket and sporting green badge of the Samithy, are posted near the entry point, two (a man and woman) at Vatapara where there is a cloak room and two others at Vellaripara Appa, a scenic spot, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Baskets have been put in five localities along the stretch for the visitors to deposit the garbage. Although the volunteers are on constant move along the forest path during the duty hours, plastic bottles and glass are still being dumped by the visitors.

The Samithy, set up under the Participatory Forest Management programme, has now 250 members. Of them 55 are Adivasis who hail from 18 families. The day-to-day functioning is taken care by a nine-member committee with a Forest official as the secretary. Three of the committee members are women as many of the Samithy members are women.

The main income of the Samithy is the entry fee of Rs.10 collected by it from the visitors at the entry point set up near the Government L.P. School, Kallar. An amount of Rs.76,632 has been collected as entry fee till February 3 and Rs.40,000 has been paid as salary to the volunteers, says Mr. Ashok Kumar.

The Samithy has also constructed a cloakroom and another room for changing dress at a cost of Rs.9,000.

The initiative has also brought a refreshing change in the Ambedkar Colony, from where the majority of the families hail. One man and woman member of the 128 families get employment now and they get a daily wage of Rs.80 each. Each member of the Samithy gets a minimum of Rs.400 a month. One of the volunteers, S. Soman, says the initiative has changed their life altogether as they have been assured a fixed income every month now.

"Majority of us were labourers and did not have any fixed income. The project has helped us to lend a helping hand to protect the forest and earn money," he adds.

Another welcome change noted is that the families have started visiting the tourist spot en route to the hill resort with the Samithy taking over the protection of the forest.

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