KUTTANAD IMBROGLIO

The Tiruvalla – Edathua – Thakazhy – Ambalapuzha road connects MC(Main Central) Road with the NH(National Highway). It had taken much more than half a century for it to attain the current shape. The development of the arterial road had progressed at a lazy pace. There were bridges to be built. The road had to be widened and raised to non submergible level. Though successive governments had been in power no one was interested in developing the parcel of land below sea level that is so unique in the world. Wherever you go Kuttanad is picture perfect. Nature has blessed Kuttanad with pristine beauty. Rivers, canals, paddy fields, lakes, fertile earth and vegetation in abundance sheltered by green canopy criss- cross Kuttanad. The greatest asset of Kuttanad is its man power. The people are hard working. They battle the elements at all times. Their strength is their resilience. Wherever they have migrated they have carried their never-say- die spirit with them to conquer the world. William Wordsworth would have narrated Kuttanad alone if he had visited it.

Kuttanad is unfortunate. Had it been in any other state of India or in any other country in the world its potential would by now have been fully explored. The people would have benefitted. The state would have prospered. The country would have had an icon.

The arterial road lies in shambles today. It had been more than a year since it was dug up to lay pipes to transmit drinking water to Alapuzha. The asphalted road is no longer there. It is nothing but a path filled with large craters. Vehicles negotiate the damaged road with great difficulty. At times the wheels dig into the earth and are stuck there causing traffic bottlenecks. It has to be borne in mind that road tax has been levied for the vehicles. There is no insurance for the damages they suffer. People who stay on both sides of the road suffer from endemic diseases the never ending dust transmits.

There was a news item on page no. 3 of Malayala Manorama news paper of 23102016 from Alapuzha.  It read in Malayalam ‘Thakarnna rodilude panja businte melkurayil idichu yatrakarante thalayku parukku’. Translated into English it would read ‘ Passenger suffers head injury hitting the roof of the bus that sped recklessly through the damaged road.’

The news from Edathua is disturbing. It highlights the bandaged head of Mr. N.J. Sajeev, Noottimuppathil Chira, Edathua. Sajeev was thrown up from his seat and his head had hit the luggage rack when the  driver of the KSRTC Bus in which he was travelling had  applied sudden brake as it was about to fall into a ditch on the road.  The bus was travelling at a high speed. The driver Mr. Mathew and the Conductor Mr.Francis after termination of the trip at Edathua took the injured person to the Community Health Centre where no doctors were available. He was given first aid there and later he sought treatment from a private hospital.

Where else these things are possible in the world except Kuttanad? When would the suffering of its people would be alleviated? It is with a heavy heart that I pen this. It seems the only expendable commodity in Kuttanad is the life of the human being.