panaji on february 4 when goa queues up to vote for the first time in history 42 members of vanarmare tribe from the hilly terrain of nirankal in ponda taluka will trek 4 km to the nearest polling booth to stand in a line to get inked it took seven decades after independence for the election commission to reach this hamlet of 16 hutments on an inclined slope of a plateau surrounded by forests these huts without any flooring or walls and dry leaves for roof stand on land provided by the government after years of struggle there are 90 of us who live here and 42 of them have received their voting cards our primary demand is better housing during monsoon water gushes down the hill and we have nowhere to go says gopal pawar pointing to the huts the only solace they have for now is that they arent faced with eviction threats we dont have any favourites no politician has visited us so far whoever promises to help in solving our problems will get our votes says pawar the two temporary tanks their only reservoir for drinking water is at the foot of the slope and tribesmen fear confrontation with locals when they go down to collect water the traditional occupation of vanarmare as their name suggests involved killing monkeys and make a living selling their meat the bow and arrow has been kept aside to comply with the forest and wildlife laws today they work as daily wage labourers or some even have taken up fishing to make ends meet for this small tribe that has its roots across the border in maharashtra there is no end to their woes a few months ago they were hounded by the locals and their houses were burnt down the government has now deployed police for their protection food is scarce and the basic diet comprises boiled rice with some red chilli powder the nearest medical aid is 20 kilometers away and theres no medical facility available till now we havent encountered any serious medical emergency a tribe member says electricity though erratic is provided by solar cells just enough to light a bulb and charge their mobile phones but the vanarmare havent lost hope they may not have a roof over their head or food to eat but that has not stopped them from sending their children to school the school is 2km away but all our children attend even the girls says pawar