Chenchus peeved at Collector’s absence at Palle Nidra

Atmakur: Chenchus in Nallamala forest division hamlet Bairluti were disappointed as the Palle Nidra meeting held at the hamlet on Tuesday night as a mere ritual with District Collector S Satyanarayana abstaining from taking part in the programme. Palle Nidra programme has been designed by the State government to ensure the government officials visit villages and stay put there for the night and interact with the villages to assess their problems and address them subsequently.

There are 475 Chenchus, belonging to 175 families, living in the hamlet. But, only 75 turned out at the meeting. About 20 officials representing 13 government departments and 50 non-officials attended the programme in anticipation that the District Collector is taking part in the event. The officials of the Medical and Health department were conspicuous by their absence.

When a group of Chenchu women confronted the ITDA officials with their problems, they were necked out of the meeting with the help of the woman staff members. The Chenchus, in a rather angry tone, said that they would have aired their problems directly to the District Collector had he happened to take part in the Palle Nidra.

The participants aired the following problems to the officials: irrigation canal from Siddapuram tank, road communication facility to Nagaluti, 100 pucca houses to the homeless poor, sinking of 15 agricultural borewells, distribution of tractors and three-wheelers and fence around their fields.