Korukonda: The outbreak of Japanese encephalitis has spelt a sea of troubles for tribals in the remote Korukonda block of Malkangiri district.
With pigs being identified as the primary carriers of the disease and most of the villagers in the area being pig-farmers, the villagers are faced with the daunting prospect of having to choose between their children’s lives and their livelihood as the administration has made it clear that the pigs will have to be culled in order to root out the disease.
Several locals of Uskapalli village Thursday vehemently resisted the attempts of the administration when officials arrived to round up their pigs. Villagers say there has to be some other solution to the problem other than killing the pigs, which are dear to them as they are the villagers’ sole source of livelihood.
Muke Madhi (30), wife of Bhima Madhi of the village, has five pigs in her house. She pleaded with the officials not to kill her animals as they were her only source of sustenance. The woman said two of her children suffer from polio while the grant she got to build an IAY house has been spent to meet the medical expenses of her children. She feeds her family by rearing pigs, Muke said.
It is not an isolated case, with most of the villagers depending on pig farming to manage their families. “The administration should provide us an alternative after snatching away our source of income,” a few other villagers said.
On the other hand, it came to notice that some villagers, who don’t want to risk the lives of their children, are killing their pigs willingly. “We don’t need pigs but our kids,” they said.
The administration Thursday made arrangements following a meeting of village-level workers and panchayat officials, to catch pigs in the village as they are said to be the chief carriers of the killer disease. According to the plan, a team led by VLW Padmacharan Patnaik managed to get hold of 20 of the 180 pigs in the village. They were taken to an isolated place and killed, it was learnt.
Meanwhile, local MLA Manas Madkami tried to explain to the villagers about the threat posed by these animals and promised government assistance for those whose pigs were culled.
District collector Sudarshan Chakraborty, BDO Dasarathi Sarab and other officials also spoke to the villagers to know their problems. They emphasised on issues such as sanitation, clean drinking water, spraying of insecticides and distribution of bed nets in the village to prevent the spread of the disease. PNN
