Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday visited Mukkali in Attapapdy where Madhu, a 27-year-old mentally challenged tribal youth, was beaten to death by some local people accusing him of theft.
Reiterating his government’s commitment to improving the living standards of tribespeople, Mr. Vijayan announced a series of official measures on the occasion.
These included alternative land for those who lost their land resources, at least 200 days of job security under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), revamp of the public distribution system at ₹10 lakh, revival of the Kudumbasree labour bank, and a permanent mechanism to coordinate different departments engaged in tribal welfare activities.
The Chief Minister convened a meeting of district-level officials and people’s representatives at Mukkali to announce the steps and said the government was committed to keeping the region hunger-free. Pointing out lack of coordination among government departments engaged in tribal welfare as one of the major hurdles in the implementation of various projects, the Chief Minister said a new project officer for the Integrated Tribal Development Programme (ITDP) would be appointed in Attappady with powers for effective coordination and implementation. The officer would be supervised by the Subcollector of Ottappalam. The Chief Secretary and District Collector would closely monitor the coordination, he said.
Mr. Vijayan said steps were on to allocate vested forestland to eligible landless tribal people in Attappady and it would be completed in a time-bound manner.
‘‘As tribal people prefer community living, they would be provided houses in clusters. Agriculture land will be provided in maximum proximity to their clusters subject to availability. Community kitchens in Attappady would be revitalised,’’ he said.
Mr. Vijayan said the government had sanctioned ₹10 crore for revamping the public distribution system in Atttappady with the active involvement of Supplyco. ‘‘Only quality food grains will be made available. Pulses and millets will be supplied through ration shops for the needy. A mega drinking water scheme will function soon,’’ he said.
Only tribal people would be recruited to all government offices in Attapapdy for daily wage assignments, he said. New 43 tribal promoters would be appointed to bring all the hamlets under constant monitoring.
The gynaecology department at the Kottathara tribal specialty hospital would be strengthened.
Some vacant government buildings in Attappady would soon be converted to care homes to rehabilitate mentally challenged persons.
De-addiction centres
De-addiction centres would be set up apart from initiating campaigns against alcoholism.
