Click to play videoMalavilla (Kerala): Once a panchayat president, 37-year-old Sugandhi, is now trying desperately to make ends meet.
The former first citizen of Kuttichal in Thiruvananthapuram district is today collecting firewood and selling it at the nearby village market to run a family of seven.
“I go early in the morning to get firewood. Many times I’ve had close encounters with elephants and other wild animals. My husband gets very little work so if I don’t go to the forest even once, the whole family starves,” says Sugandhi.
However, locals fondly recall her contribution as panchayat chief from 1996 to 1998.
“She has done some great work for all of us when she was the panchayat president. Though she has helped us all, nothing good has happened to her,” says a resident of Kuttichal, Usha.
A matriculate, Sugandhi says she still wants to contribute to the society at large, but gets little time, as her husband's meagre earnings are not enough to look after the needs of the family.
“I would like to become panchayat president again. But the only problem is that now I have two children to feed. So it's a tough ask for me to do social service because I have to care of my family also,” says Sugandhi.
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