New districts splits people

People fight for Bellampalli, Mancherial and Asifabad as new district Hq     

The Telangana governments’ efforts to create new districts in the state for the better administration and improve the accessibility for the people to government machinery, has divided the people of the district on the issue and have started fighting among themselves on headquarters of the new districts to be created in the state.

Demand for revival of the old district head quarters Asifabad as new district to be created is gaining ground following the state government’s decision to create a new district out of the existing Adilabad district.

On the other hand, people of Bellampalli area also demanding the creation of new district with Bellampalli as its headquarters instead Mancherial. Leaders of Bellamaplli Zilla Sadhana committee argue that Mancherial will be far way for the people of the interior Bejjur, Kautala, Dahegoan mandal and Bellamapalli is the centre to all the areas in the new district to be created.

Leaders of Asifabad Zilla Sadhana Samiti also came out with similar argument before state government to justify their demand.        

During 1913-14, District headquarters was shifted to Asifabad from Adilabad owing to the administration exigencies and it was continued till 1940-41 and later Adilabad was once again made district headquarters.

Asifabad Zilla Sadhana Samiti and Bellampali Zilla Sadhana committees were formed and members and leaders of the committees had launched their agitations to achieve their demand.

With these developments, political leaders and leaders of various organizations also divided with their divulging opinions on the issue and not only creating confusion among the people but also spreading the enmity among the people of different areas within the district.

The issue is raising the temperaments among the people and issue forced the former and ruling MLAs took the sides of the agitation for creation of new district with the towns as headquarters falling in their respective Assembly constituencies like Mancherial, Bellampalli and Asifabad.

Earlier, the issue of creation of new district with Bellampalli as its headquarters was rocked the district development committee meeting at Mancherial and resulted in unending arguments by then MLAs Gunda Mallesh of Bellampalli and Gaddam Aravind Reddy of Mancherial.

Asifabad Zilla Sadhana Samiti convenor Gurrala Venkateshwar said ‘creation of new district as Asifabad its headquarters naming after Adivasi legendary late Komuram Bheem will be good for people of the district and the area will be developed as it attached to sate high way No-1 between Telangana and Maharashtra’. He recalled that ‘Asifabad was district headquarters for many years in the past’.

Diseases : Adivasi kids turn orphans

Kudimetha Revati   

More than 600 Adivasi children have been orphaned with their parents having succumbed to seasonal diseases in the Agency areas in the Adilabad district of Telangana in the last 18 years.

Outbreak of viral fever, diarrhea, dengue and malaria fevers besides anemia have caused deaths of many Adivasis.

In many cases, all the family members or majority of them fallen got afflicted by seasonal diseases in the Agency areas.  

Risk from seasonal diseases is aggravated owing to less immunity in Adivasi people due to lack of nutritious food, polluted drinking water, poor sanitation and untimely medical treatment.

Most Adivasi orphaned children are in the age group of 4 years to 15 years. Not just parents, many children bellow 5 years have also succumbed to seasonal diseases.

Kudimetha Revati,8, lost her parents Shakunthala and Nagorao to seasonal diseases two years ago. 

Her grandfather Kudimetha Bojju now looks after her, her brother Vinayak and sister Anasurya in Pullala village in Sirpur( U) mandal. Revati and Vinayak have been suffering from malaria for the last four days.

One can find many orphans like Revati, Vinayak and Nagorao in the Adivasis gudems in the district, growing on their own without any governments support and care.

Revati’s aged grandfather Kudimetha Bojju, looking after his grandchildren, is worried about their future as he may not live long. 

He hopes the state government steps forward to rescue his grandchildren in the absence of guardians.  On few occasions, government officials and NGOs have intervened and put orphans in hostels meant for them.

Many orphaned Adivasis children were seen roaming in the gudems without work and some of them have ended up as cattle grazers with bleak future.

It is estimated that there were 1,500 orphan children of all categories and nearly 40 percent of them are from Adivasi communities in the district. State co-convenor of Child Rights Forum and district committee member of Child Welfare Committee (CWC) Meerza Yakoob Baig said more than 600 Adivasi children have been orphaned in the Adivasi gudems in the last 18 years.

He observed that child marriages were also resulted in deaths of parents at an early age and added that there were only four child homes for orphaned girls and only two open shelter homes for boys in the district.

Issue of large number of Adivasi orphans came up for discussion during Dr Shantha Sinha, then Chairperson, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, visited the Adivasi gudems in the Narnoor mandal in the Adilabad district following the outbreak of seasonal diseases in 2008.   

Gussadi dance gets Baahubali boost

Adivasis performing their traditional Gussadi dance 

The well-known dance ‘Gussadi’ of the Adivasis has got recognition in the blockbuster movie Baahubali’ directed by S. S Rajamouli.

The Gussadi dance has been filmed for the first time. Adivasisi performed the Gussadi dance wearing hats made of peacock feathers during Diwali and it is synonymous with the culture of Adivasis. Adivasis are thrilled at the prominence given to the Gussaddi dance in the film.

The Gussadi dance was depicted as one of the few dances being performed as cultural programmes on the sidelines while installing the gigantic statue of ‘Ballala Deva’, ruler of the Mahishmati kingdom in the movie.

        

The Gussadi dance was shown along with another Adivasi popular dance called Kommu Koya by wearing the headgear of bison horns.

However, it is said that the Gussadi dance was irrelevant to the situation and not connected to historical story. Adivasis considered the Gussadi dance as sacred as it connected to the Diwali festival.

Adivasis men especially youth and middle- aged men are called ‘Gussadis’  and wear typical attire carrying ‘Jhola’, ‘Rokal’, with various bright colors smeared on their body and a hat made of peacock feathers.  

    

Senior Adivasis leader who was a also a cinema artist and folk singer of Gondi, Sedmaki Seetharam observed that ‘it looks unpleasant on seeing the Gussadi dance as situation did not demand it. 

It would have been appropriate if it was shown as being performed on Diwali day highlighting its sanctity, he said. The Gussadi dance was also shown in another blockbuster movie Rani Rudrama Devi.                    

Villagers boycott leprosy patient

Pandram Lingubai, a 45-year-old Adivasi widow, has been ostracised and forced to live in a small hut on the outskirts of her village (Kommugudem of Jannaram mandal) for six years, only because she suffers from leprosy.

The district officials have failed to cure her and Ms Lingubai is relying on traditional ayurvedic medicines purchased with her pension money.

Her son Rajender and relative Gangubai, who live in the village, bring her food every day, but they do not live with her. Kommugudem village community head Pusam Sonerao said that they did not have any objections to her return as she owned a house and land, but she should be cured first.

In rural areas, leprosy is still considered a deadly disease and people feel that those suffering from the disease (pedda rogam) should not live within the community as it is considered an ill omen.

Ms Lingubai, meanwhile, said that she had become accustomed living on her own in the agricultural fields, after the villagers evicted her. The hut she is living in had been constructed by her family long back.

She said health workers had visited her long ago and had given her some medicines. She added that doctors at the Jannaram hospitals had said that they did not have medicines for leprosy.

However, she expressed her willingness to return to the village if she was cured. Members of Human Rights Forum, led by state secretary Atram Bhujangarao, recently met Ms Lingubai and had lunch with her and touched her feet to show that leprosy was not a life threatening disease and was not contagious.

Apparently 30 years ago, a woman from the same village, who had leprosy, had committed suicide by consuming pesticide, as she was unable to withstand the pressure mounted by the villagers.

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