Madurai. When 73-year-old Kandasamy Nayakar breathed his last in Meenakshipuram on Sunday, it was the last breath of his village in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi district. Nayakar was the only resident of the village, a poignant symbol of a community that was once thriving but has now become a ghost village. According to the 2001 census, Meenakshipuram village in Sekarakudi panchayat once had 1,296 residents. Yet environmental changes, fluctuations in rainfall and the relentless grip of chronic drought gradually sapped the village’s vitality, leading to large-scale migration in the last 10 years. Once fertile fields turned barren, forcing families to seek stability and livelihood elsewhere.
According to a report in the Times of India, amid this exodus, Naicker stuck to Meenakshipuram. He outlived his wife by 20 years and continued to live in the same village where he was born. He has two sons and two daughters. The younger son Bala Krishnan thought of transforming Meenakshipuram. He said, “The village was heavily dependent on agriculture. Due to lack of rain and water shortage, the situation started deteriorating. People had to walk 3-4 km to get water and other basic amenities, due to which they were not interested in living in the village.”
I did my own work until the last day
Naicker’s last wish was to die in the village. For his last months, he did all his daily chores and cooked his own food. Only recently did Krishnan arrange for someone to help his father. Krishnan, who lives in Kasilingapuram, 15km away, would often bring food for his father or Naicker would visit his son’s house. After sunset on Sunday, a man who checked on Naicker found him lying lifeless. “Even though my father was a farmer, he was known to participate in rekla and jallikattu (bull racing),” Krishnan said.
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No one is ready to come and settle in the village
“There are six villages within the panchayat limits. Now, officially, we have lost one village due to migration in the last decade,” said I Ramalakshmi, president of Sekarakudi panchayat, with a heavy heart. She said groundwater levels have improved in recent years and roads have been built, but the ghosts of past suffering still loom large. No one is willing to come and settle in the village. As Meenakshipuram fades into memory, it is a poignant reminder of the challenges faced by many similar villages in the area.
Tags: Climate Change, Forests and Climate Change, tamilnadu
FIRST PUBLISHED : May 30, 2024, 18:13 IST