Three Chenchu hamlets become dry due to lack of check-dam

 Telangana | Written by : Suryaa Desk Updated: Mon, Feb 19, 2018, 11:55 AM

Nagarkurnool: Three Chenchu hamlets in Nallamala forest are being deprived of irrigation facility in the absence of a check-dam on a minor irrigation tank in the forest area, resulting in flowing of rainwater downstream to join the Krishna river.

Medimenikala Chenchu Penta in Lingala mandal is one of the hamlets located deep inside Amrabad Tiger Reserve and is a habitation for wild animals and exotic flora and fauna. There are around 25 Chenchu Gudaras (shacks) in the hamlet where indigenous Chenchu tribals are residing.

The image of a tribal person wearing no clothes, holding a bow in his/her hand, with feathers tied around the forehead is a notion of the mainstream society about indigenous people. This has changed in hamlets such as Medimenikala, which have access to road (though kaccha).
Thanks to the efforts of Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) and the Forest Department over the past decade or so, today the Chenchus are not only able to wear clothes but also have television sets in their homes with dish antennae.

One would be surprised to know that every shack is equipped with solar panels to generate electricity which is being used to power the house. There is also a borewell dug in the hamlet by ITDA, which is also equipped with solar pumpsets, to lift the water and fill syntax tanks placed near every house in the hamlet. Today, the residents of the hamlet (all of them belonging to a single family tree) are the happiest lot.

Baayanna (64) is the oldest man in the hamlet and is the father of nine daughters and four sons. The issue of population explosion doesn’t seem to be a problem here because if it wasn’t for people like Baayanna, the already dwindling population of Chenchus wouldn’t have been balanced. Though a senior citizen, Baayanna is as strong and swift as a teenager.

“There hasn’t been a single incident in our hamlet where a person was found to be bitten by a snake or killed by a tiger or a bear, except for one incident where a bear had come into our hamlet and tried to attack our people,” said Gurumaiah, a resident of the hamlet.

It was the brave Baayanna, who had fought with the bear and shoved a stone inside its mouth to prevent it from biting when two other residents killed it. This was long ago.

“We grow ragi, red gram, vegetables and whatever we need to live. We don’t sell anything. Whatever we produce, we consume it within the hamlet,” said Baayanna, speaking to Telangana Today.

When asked how they were earning a livelihood, he said the Chenchus were covered under NREGS works which are being taken up in Chenchu hamlets. Works such as digging kuntas were taken up to conserve rainwater in Medimenikala. However, only during the monsoons water can be seen here. By summer, it goes dry.

The main source of irrigation for Medimenikala, Gundala and Lingaberi Chenchu pentas is the Medimenikala Cheruvu, which was built centuries ago during the period of Kakatiya rulers. The tank is quite deep and its bund stands strong even today. Unfortunately, the tank has gone dry due to a broken check-dam which was constructed a decade ago by the forest department.

Right after its construction, due to poor quality and faulty engineering work, the check-dam came down in no time, unable to stand the force of the water.

Since then, during the monsoons, water flows through the irrigation tanks which are interconnected (golusukattu cheruvulu). Due to an absence of the check-dam, the water doesn’t stay in the village. It joins Krishna, leaving the three hamlets without irrigation water.

“As of now we are cultivating only rain-fed crops. If this check-dam is restored, we would be the happiest people. We will keep Harish Rao’s photo in every shack and offer prayers to him,” said an emotional Baayanna, who has been waiting for the past decade for a check-dam to be built on the tank.

“Water is needed not only for us, but also the animals living in the forest which wouldn’t need to go to faraway places for water if our tank is restored,” said Gurumaiah.

It is also a reality that during summer, the situation becomes so bad that residents along with their cattle have to travel 8 km for water.

Building a check-dam on this tank would hardly cost Rs 10 lakh, as per unofficial estimates. It would not only improve the situation of agriculture for the three Chenchu pentas, but would also improve the situation of vegetation and wildlife in the forest.

Above all, it will help in conservation and protection of tiger, our national animal, the main objective of declaring Amrabad as a tiger reserve.