The Hindu, carried out an article,’ Visitors atKoondhankulam' on December 17 in its Sunday magazine section. On December
14,the same paper published a news item in page no 5 ‘We’ll spill blood to savethe hills, say tribals' and its November 23 edition published in their Op-Edsection 'A rare victory'.All the above revolve around the theme,’ People power’. andthe power that made things happen. Peoplewho took the initiative to stop the rot caused by molested
environment are fromthe lower strata of the society and illiterate. But they are equipped with a high degree of awareness. Mind it, none ofthem have any idea of ‘Kyoto resolutions’ or scores of such hi-fi summitconferences and summits held regularly in different parts of the world thatnever yield results.’ Visitors at Koondhankulam', penned by S.Theodre Bhaskaranserves as an eye opener to all the governments world over. The villagers ofKoondhakulam,near Tirunelveli,Tamilnadu,India protect birds zealously .Thevillagers treat the arrival of storks inlarge numbers as the harbingers of happytidings about the environment. They take it for granted that the atmosphere iscongenial for Two crops. And welcomethem with warmth. The storks make full use of the patronage offered by thevillagers. They breed in all possible places sans fear. A perfect harmony withthe nature.The tribals known asAchuar tribals from the borders of Peru and Ecuador, were demanding forre-injecting all the contaminated waste water back into the ground ,andbuilding a new hospital with enough money to run health service It is essentialto know the background to understand fully about the protest that brought downthe Peruvian government and the oil major to the knees. The Achuar tribe madeAmazon forest as their abode enjoying the fruits of Amazon
forests sincegenerations. Every thing went on well until the eyes of the oil explorationcompanies fell on the rich reserves ofoil in the Amazon forests. A vast area of the rain forests was over exploitedby the Oil explorers. Leading to waterpollution. And the Peruvian government did not bother to provide the minimumamenities. The natives who had to drink the polluted water fallen prey toailments.Unable to tolerate further exploitation,Achuar tribes oneday plunged into action. More than 8000 Achuars led by their chiefs with redand yellow feathered head gears arrived in boatload in twilight hours at fouroil wells in the middle of the Amazonian rain forest .Their faces streaked withpaint carrying hunting shot guns and ceremonial spears worked meticulously andstopped the power supply to the oil companies and blocked all the entrances andexits. Thus around 40000 barrels a day of oil production has come to a grindinghalt. Red bulbs and alarm bells started working feverishly to break the slumberof the Peruvian government and the oil companies. The firm and determinedAchuar tribe did not budge. In no uncertain terms they dictated the terms .Theenvironment exploiters had to concede most of the Achuara’s demands, includingre-injecting all the contaminated waste into the ground within two years, and awell equipped hospital to take full care of the ruined health of the AchuarsWhen the government of Andhra Pradesh announced itsintentions to undertake the Bauxite mining in this tribal area of Visakhapatnam, thetribals roared like tigers. The tribals are aware that the mining makes therivers dry. Forest, their hitherto breadearners will disappear. The tribals did not believe the empty promises of thegovernment or the Jindal aluminium company. The entire area has become onevoice and reverberated ‘We will spill. We will spill blood… blood… to save the hills…hills… What the Pundits andthe summit conferences could not do,the simpletons of the society, whoseexistence is registered neither by the almighty or the administrations shownthat to protect the environment, there is no need to have conventionaleducation. A grain of common sense and awareness will make the things happen