It’s only a few months back that the Kathirimalai hamlet in Erode got actually connected to the mainstream after a 100-year long wait, when it got its first single layer WBM road for transportation. And, now, high-speed internet facility has also entered this remote hamlet of Tamil Nadu, in line with the district administration’s vision to turn it into a model village, so that the tribal villagers can avail various government schemes.
This has been made possible through “Punnagai’ (Smile), a pilot project initiated and implemented by the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Erode. Kathirimalai is 75 kms away from a high-speed internet Wi-Fi spot and the 76 odd tribal families living here could never have imagined availing online health and education facilities, otherwise.
The project is funded by NABARD Rural Infrastructure Promotion Fund (RIPF) with a grant assistance of Rs. 10 Lakh and the installation and technical assistance is supported by the Centre for Social Computing (C4S) Kerala.
A MODEL VILLAGE
Kathirimalai village is an isolated remote tribal hamlet situated at an elevation of 1040m and around 81km by road from the Erode district capital. The hamlet is in Bargur Panchayat Union of Anthiyur taluk and is located inside the reserve forest of Chennampatti forest range in Erode Forest Division. The village has no proper road access except for the single layer water bound macadam (WBM) road under construction for 8 km and no grid power or telecommunication facilities. Solar lights provide light in the village at night and the only agriculture source is millets (ragi), harvested for their own consumption once a year.
The only mode of transportation to the hilly place is by Bobtail tractors. Villagers have to walk nearly four hours to reach the nearest town, hospital, or to collect their ration.
INTERNET CONNECTIVITY
While speaking to Indian Masterminds, DC Erode, H Krishnanunni, IAS, said: “Along with NABARD and technical expert group called C4S, we have found a technology which can connect such remote villages with high-speed internet facility.”
The main objective of this project is to provide long range wireless internet connectivity to village, establish Smart School Study Centre for online learning of the school-going children and regular functioning of the school, and lastly, provide tele-medicine clinic for regular health care system and connect to medical practitioners in case of emergency.
A survey was conducted for location coordinates, population data collection, accessibility, and tower installation provisions. Since the hamlet is quite far from the nearest town and inside the forest on a hilly terrain, it was not easy to reach the location and to install three tall towers on the Bergur hills to get the line of sight to bring network signal to Kathrimalai.
The locations, coverage required, and specific equipment were identified for the connectivity project by the technical experts of C4S. During the implementation stage, a project team was formed led by DRDA with District Collector as the Chairman. Four wi-fi towers were installed linking Burgur hills to Kathrimalai School with solar-based power and lithium-ion battery backup for sustainable power.
TELE-HEALTH FACILITIES
This resulted in establishing over 100 Mbps high speed wireless internet connectivity in Kathirimalai. Online learning system with video streaming and customised OpenC4S software was installed, converting the school to a smart study centre. Further, telemedicine centre was established at the hamlet with basic equipment. Basic medicines were also deployed for emergency.
Mr. Krishnanunni said, “Through the software installed by the technical experts, one tele-clinic is scheduled once every week on Wednesday. In this, we have medical doctors taking the session along with a community resource person, who was identified and trained to operate and maintain the tele-medicine equipment and advice people during general health problems like cold, fever, etc.”
A live diagnosis of the villagers takes place in this tele-health session under the consultation of Dr. Parthibhan from the Government Primary Health Centre. The administration has also roped in outside medical experts who can help in case of emergencies or otherwise.
ONLINE EDUCATION
A customised Online Learning Management System (LMS) has been installed in the school. The 35 school children from class 1 to 8 in this remote village will, for the first time, get to know online education and learn about the world outside. This has also improved in maintain a regular attendance of the students.
The district administration aims to expand this initiative to 45 other locations which have been identified, and, also, take it to the state level. Taking a cue from its success, other states can also replicate the Erode model to connect remote, isolated hamlets to the mainstream.
