Navamalai

Navamalai
—  village  —
Navamalai Location of Navamalai in Tamil Nadu and India
Coordinates	10°28′N 77°00′E / 10.46°N 77.00°E / 10.46; 77.00Coordinates: 10°28′N 77°00′E / 10.46°N 77.00°E / 10.46; 77.00
Country	India
State	Tamil Nadu
District(s)	Coimbatore
Population	300 (2001[update])
Sex ratio	Females are more than Males. ♂/♀
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	• 39 metres (128 ft)
Codes • Pincode • 642114 • Telephone • +04259 is the telephone code • Vehicle • TN 41

Navamalai is a small village in the panchayat town of Kottur-Malayandipattinam in Coimbatore District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It has one of the hydroelectric power houses of Tamil Nadu Electricity Board known as Aliyar Power House, because it is one of the main hydro-electric power production bases built along the river Aliyar.

Geography

Navamalai is located 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) south of Kottur-Malayandipattinam in Pollachi Taluk of Coimbatore District. As the name suggests, it is srrounded by nine mountains [Navamalai means in Tamil "Nine Mountains"] of Western Ghats. The River Aliyar falls from the high mountains and starts its journey through the plains from this small beautiful village.The southern end of Aliyar Dam touches the village. There are many other streams in the mountains all of which pass through the village before joining the river Aliyar. The mountains are very green and the forests have rare trees and plants. Granite patches are visible at many places in the mountains. Thick forests give cover to many wild animals. It is now part of Indira Gandhi Wild Park.

Demographics

Navamalai has three types of population, namely 1. the people who work for the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, 2. the tribal folks and 3. agricultural labourers and petite shop owners. The settlement of electricity board, referred as EB Camp is on the east side of the village and it has well built houses with all infrastructure. The tribals live on the roadsides, along the banks of river aliyar and on a hillock in the middle of an agricultural land belonging to a Telugu chettiar, on the western side. Agricultural labours live in the fields and small shop keepers live near the EB camp. The land belongs to Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, Department of Forests, Government of Tamil Nadu. All the agricultural land [more than 100 acres] belongs to one person, who belonged to the Telugu Chettiar caste, a migrant community from Andhra Pradesh which forms the single largest minority [but wealthy] community in the state of Tamil Nadu. The tribals who were permanent residents of the place were made to agricultural labourers and security personnel for less money and were almost bonded labourers for many decades. Today they do not work on the fields, they go out to different places to work as daily wages. Though the village hydro electric power station produces electricity, the tribals live even today without electricity! They live in huts and mud houses. They were harassed by all for one or other things. Most of the time they were made scapegoats for all the crimes, as they live in poverty. The Telugu chettiar who has taken away their land during the British rule does not give them place to construct the houses.

History

The history of Navamalai is one of exploitation, exploitation of natural habitat, environment, tribals and forests. Its history is not written anywhere. The land records show just about 150 years of history.