It is the start of the morning rush hour in Kochi, and vehicles jostle for precious space on city roads. About 9 km away, the island of Valanthakad surrounded by the Vembanad lake is a picture of calm. Near its banks, M.K. Vanaja gets into a long wooden boat, picks up the oar and waits. Soon, office-goers, schoolchildren and others step in. A commuter picks up the other oar and they begin rowing to the pier at Maradu.
“Everyone on the island, including little children, knows to row. Without a bridge connecting us to the city, this is our only means of transport,” says Ms. Vanaja, the boatwoman engaged by Maradu municipality at one end of the island.
On the other side, boatman Karthikeyan ferries commuters to the Nettoor pier. Besides the two boats maintained by the municipality, each of the 46 Scheduled Caste families on the island has their own boat.
The perilous boat ride is only one of the many everyday problems the islanders face. At Valanthakad, there isn’t a properly laid-out road. People get from one spot to the other by walking across each other’s plots and along the ridges of Pokkali fields long abandoned. Grass grows wild, as do mangroves and other trees.
“It is now that this place has actually become a kaadu (forest),” says A.V. Aravindakshan, a retired Naval Base employee. “Earlier, standing in your frontyard, you could see all across the island. Now, with the undergrowth harbouring snakes, even the evening walk home is dangerous,” he says.
With thick rows of mangroves lining the many waterbodies, the island makes for a picturesque setting. Any admiration though is met with curt remarks, “Everyone loves the scenery. No one seems to care about the humans living in misery here.”
Farming and fishing
Valanthakad has had its golden days. “During my childhood, the entire island was full of Pokkali fields. We’d cultivate rice for half the year, and then use the farms for prawn cultivation. The farms fed us and we were never short of money. But all that has changed now,” says 81-year-old Prabhakaran Naduthundiyil. Commuting woes and the lure of other jobs took people away from farming. A Bengaluru-headquartered real estate group buying large packets of land on the island sealed the fate of agriculture, he adds.
Pollution of the Vembanad lake surrounding the island has affected the water bodies in Valanthakkad. Hindu | Photo Credit: Thulasi Kakkat
Efforts by the Maradu municipality to revive Pokkali farming on the island last year went to naught due to the unprecedented flood.
Fishing too is on the decline, says Babu, one of Valanthakad’s many fish workers. The islanders say the water has become highly polluted with the discharge of untreated waste from nearby industries and a private hospital. Repeated requests and protests to put an end to such indiscriminate pollution has gone unheeded, they add.
Two years ago, the islanders took up the cudgels again, protesting against the criss-crossing of speedboats in the Vembanad waters, which threatened their livelihood. The protests found success as restrictions were imposed on the operation of tourist boats in the region. “Most islanders now depend on the harvesting of clams for daily sustenance,” says Mr. Babu. The younger generation is not too keen to take up the traditional job. “Why should they? It’ll only drive them to starvation,” he says.
Water problem
There is more water than land at Valanthakad and yet the availability of potable water is a problem. Most islanders depend on public taps. The supply to eight houses on the eastern side of the island has been erratic for over two months now. “We have to row boats laden with empty vessels to the nearby island of Cheppanam to fetch water,” says Sheeba Ravi.
A primary health centre and a mobile medical unit tend to basic medical needs, but late-night medical emergencies are still a nightmare for the islanders. “A bridge has to come up. Only that will solve our problems,” they say.
Repeated promises by government after government went unkept. The islanders were on the verge of giving up all hope, when M. Swaraj, MLA, took up the issue, says K.B. Babu, a resident. “All that we want is a bridge wide enough for an ambulance to pass through.”
Mr. Swaraj says that a sum of ₹5.4 lakh has been allotted from his MLA fund for a steel bridge connecting Valanthakad to Maradu. The project has received administrative sanction, and the tendering process will begin in a month’s time, he adds.
Councillor Rathi Divakaran is optimistic that the foundation stone for the bridge will be laid before Onam this year. With all their dreams pinned on the project, Valanthakad waits.