Madikeri: Tribal families in Kodagu are facing hardship due to lack of nutritious food. Tribes settled across South Kodagu settlements have expressed anguish over the non-supply of nutritious food from the Integrated Tribal Development Programme in the past three months.They demanded that the officials concerned take immediate action to resume the supply of food items. Over 150 families of tribes living within the Maldare panchayat limits stated that they are unable to make ends meet as they are devoid of govt facilities. “The govt used to provide nutritious food to the tribal settlements. The food items were helpful as most of the time we are unemployed and suffering from poverty. But no items were received for the last three months,” said Indira, a resident of the tribal settlement. She stated that the tribal community living in the forest is devoid of all basic facilities. “We at least made sure that we did not stay hungry. But for the past three months, we are finding it tough to satiate our hunger,” she added.Meanwhile, the tribes complained that their livelihood was affected severely due to the increasing number of migrant workers from north eastern states taking their jobs as estate labourers across the district. “Migrant workers mostly live in the coffee plantations and work for low wages. In this context, several tribes have been rendered jobless. Along with unemployment, the lack of facilities, including the absence of nutritious food supply, is affecting us,” she said.Technical issues: Welfare dept district headWhen questioned, the tribal welfare department’s district head, Honnegowda, said, “The supply of nutritious food was delayed due to technical issues and it has been resumed now. We have asked the contractors to supply food before the twentieth of every month. However, quality food supply has been delayed and will be resolved.”
