Three Malekudiya families of Amthi-Kudige in the Hadu Oni village of the Mudigere taluk, are mourning. Their patriarch, T.A. Rudraiah, passed away on Tuesday evening. With his death, his long struggle to realise his dream of having a road connect his hamlet ended unfulfilled. His family feels very hurt by this.
They can reach the world outside their hamlet only by crossing a river. The Hindu had carried a story on the difficulties faced by them in January 2018. Children propel a coracle to school every day. When the river rises in the rains, children are unable to attend school.
Rudraiah, 75, complained of difficulty in breathing on April 29.
His sons, Suresh and Sathish, carried him, had him sit on a chair, and placed it on a coracle to cross the Bhadra river. “He felt better, so we brought him back to the village last week, but he suddenly developed a complication on Tuesday, and passed away before we could take him to a hospital,” Mr. Suresh, who lives in Mangaluru, told The Hindu on Thursday.
Rudraiah was earlier a resident of the Hole Kudige village. He worked in a private estate for many years. In 1981, the government granted his family six acres of land adjoining the estate in which he had worked. Whilst he was an employee at the estate, they could take the path adjoining it, but this wasn't allowed after his tenure drew to a close.
“Our fight [for a road] has been on since 1981, when were kids. When my father was working on the estate, we had to request the owner for hand-written ‘permits’ to use the inside road,” said Mr. Chandrashekhar, Rudraiah’s older son, who lives in Amthi-Kudige with his brother Sathish, cousin Raghavendra, and their families. Including the children of the families, about 20 people live here.
Permission from the estate’s owner is required if heavy material has to be carried into the village. “How long should we remain at the mercy of the estate owners? We want the government to take over the Panchayat road that passes through the estate and declare it open for public use,” demanded Mr. Chandrashekhar. Politicians offer promises before elections, but nothing comes out of it, he said.