They live in thatched huts that come up mostly alongside the bunds of irrigation channels and canals in rural areas.
For the hundreds and thousands of Challa Yanadi tribal families, life became a matter of facing problems like water-logging, lack of pucca houses and house sites, absence of proper drinking water source, constant danger from reptiles and so on.
A pucca house built of brick, cement and concrete is a dream for every Yanadi family as such a dwelling provides huge respite from most of the immediate daily problems like water logging and roof-leaking.
They poured out these problems before visiting politicians at the time of elections, seeking solutions like levelling of the land of their localities adjoining the canals. Fencing of the small pockets of land given to them in forest fringes was also among their demands as a measure to protect their crops from the stray animals.
At the Mallemala Yanadi locality in Balayapalli mandal, the residents wanted desilting of a few wells so that they would get good supply of irrigation water for their crops. Little bits of forest land were given to some families here for growing crops but water supply continued to be a problem.
The tribals narrated their travails before District Collector N. Srikanth, who visited the Challa Yanadi dwellings in Manubolu and Balayapalli areas recently along with a host of district officials. Nellore District Yanadi Samakhya president Mallika Sailaja accompanied the officials.
With the help of NGOs, several Yanadi families have been freed from bonded labour and they were given parcels of land. As they were cultivating crops, harvesting posed problems with stray animals feeding on the crops. The tribals sought help for fencing all around the land.
Mini water schemes were suggested as an effective way of solving drinking water problem in the tribal localities.
For creating work opportunities, watershed development and land levelling works are sought in tribal lands and localities under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
