Many unresolved issues continued to remain a major poll plank, where the two major Dravidian majors are locking horns over the battle of ballots in Gudalur. The battle this time looks like AIADMK trying to wrest the seat from the DMK.
Tucked in the lower reaches of the Nilgiris hills, Gudalur constituency shares borders with Karnataka and Kerala. While the Karnataka side is separated by two tiger reserves, the Kerala side seems to be a major route for mutual business.
The major bone of contention for the electorate and a challenge for the candidates is a solution to the Janmam lands issue. People seeking patta for the lands are not able to get the same owing to an imbroglio over Section 17 of the Janmam Ryotwari Act of 1972.
The Zamin lands during independence were nationalised by Kerala and Karnataka under this Act and Revenue and Forest Departments there had taken possession of the land, whereas Tamil Nadu failed to nationalise these lands and lessees had moved the Supreme Court. The legal stalemate on one side and a ban on issue of patta for the entire Nilgiris continues to be a contentious issue.
“Engalukku mirugangalai rakshikinna sarcar vendam, engalukku makkalai rakshikinna arasu thane venum” is the response of a group of autorickshaw drivers at Gudalur – meaning - we want a government that would protect human beings and not just the wildlife. In a conflict situation, the priority of the State seems to be wildlife, they added. Such is the impact of human – animal conflict in this region.
Presence of Janmam lands had resulted in forest remaining in 216 pockets and wildlife not having a migratory path to move to contiguous forest areas. Nature enthusiasts wanting the Government to look beyond politics want creation of a corridor for seven km with a width of 1.5 to 2 km for the migration of wildlife on the Mudumalai – Kerala section. Frequent incidents of loss of human lives in conflicts had turned the focus on Gudalur in the recent times and mitigations have remained ad-hoc and there is a pertinent need for long term and scientific solution to the issue, says T. Bhojan, a resident of Nilgiris.
The constituency by virtue of its location has a mixed demographic profile with Irular, Kurumba, Paniya and Kattu Naicker tribes being the native ones, besides Sri Lankan repatriates, Keralites and Muslims having a substantial presence.
The primary economy of the constituency largely depends on plantations such as tea, coffee, ginger, pepper and cardamom. For some of the plantation products i.e., spices, the cultivators are largely dependant on Kerala for getting a remunerative price and marketing avenue. The cultivators look for a marketing mechanism on the Tamil Nadu side to escape from the clutches of cartels and syndicates operating on the other side, says a plantation manager seeking anonymity. They feel that pepper, cardamom and coffee were not getting a remunerative price.
Land owners are sore that the enforcement mode of Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forest Act was curtailing their entitled rights over their land and expect a promise from the candidates to revisit the same. Pattavayal, Pandalur, and Devala, which were known as local Cherrapunji, are seeing a declining groundwater table.
But for roads, the constituency has not seen any major leap in terms of infrastructure. The population still for their higher education and health related needs are travelling to Kalpetta, Perunthalmanna and Kozikode as the terrain makes the travel easy rather than making an uphill travel to Udhagamandalam and then descend from there to Coimbatore.
The seat that was won by the DMK five times, thrice by the AIADMK and twice by the Congress is witnessing a keen contest between the Dravidian majors namely sitting MLA M. Thiravidamani of DMK and S. Kalaiselvan of AIADMK.
The CPI-M nominee P. Tamil Mani is giving the Dravidian majors a tough time owing to the presence of a sizeable presence of workforce. Also in the fray are B.M. Prasuram of BJP and Murugesh of PMK.
