Fearing for their lives, one by one their neighbors fled the forests, moving to secure locations where they could move around in safety. Panikker and his siblings decided to follow suit and solicited the Forest officials to take over their land and rehabilitate them elsewhere , but the officials turned a deaf ear to their pleas. Caught between their wild intruders and official apathy, they were at their wit’s end.
That was when Amrita TV entered the scene.
Its Calicut Bureau Chief Deepak Dhamadam who heard of their sorry plight, captured the story on video and aired it on Amrita TV’s news bulletin, Top Ten @Ten. The narrative caught the eye of the Human Rights Commission ; its members along with the District Collector visited them for an on-the-spot assessment. They found the request valid and recommended immediate action .
Brought to the notice of the Minister for Forest Mr Binoy Viswam, the report was tabled in the Assembly and placed before the Cabinet . The Cabinet sanctioned Rs.30 lakhs to be paid toward their rehabilitation,Rs.10 lakhs each to Panikker and his two siblings. The Minister came down in person to present the first installment of Rs 5 lakhs each to the beleaguered families. In his speech on the occasion he warmly applauded Amrita TV’s for its commendable efforts, especially its Bureau chief Deepak Dharmadam.
It is the first time in Malayalam television history that the Government is taking action on an issue on the basis of a TV report . Had Dharmadam not highlighted their predicament, Panikker and his family might have ended up as a statistic in some dusty official file, under the heading ‘fallen prey to the wild beasts of Kakkayam Forests’ |
