Water issue trickles into poll scene

By G. Prabhakaran

PALAKKAD, APRIL 23.The scarcity of water for drinking and irrigation needs and the drying up of the Bharathapuzha and its tributaries in summer, a fallout of the inter-State Parambikulam Aliyar Project (PAP) agreement, are becoming election issues in the district.

Recently, a hue and cry was raised in the district particularly in the Chittur taluk, `rice bowl of Kerala', when Tamil Nadu stopped water to the State under the PAP agreement, resulting in the destruction of paddy crop in vast areas.

Bharathapuzha, cradle of civilisation in this part of the State, provides drinking water to 175 villages and 16 municipalities, besides irrigating vast areas in the three districts of Palakkad, Malappuram and Thrissur.

Indiscriminate sand removal, encroachment of river beds, cultivation along the river course, etc., in the past several decades have resulted in the drying up of the Bharathapuzha.

There are 18 Assembly constituencies that fall on the banks of the Bharathapuzha and three others that get drinking water from it. There were five Ministers in the LDF Government representing constituencies on the banks of the river - three from Palakkad and one each from Malappuram and Thrissur. ``But despite this, there had been no one to care for this holy river,'' activists of the Bharathapuzha Samrakshana Samithy alleged.

The annual flow of water in the river is 7,478 million cubic meters. But the river could not get this flow during this summer and hence has dried up completely. Since 1983, this is the first time that the river has dried up in most of its stretches. Its tributaries like the Kannadipuzha, Kalpathipuzha, Gayathripuzha and Thuthapuzha have also dried up, resulting in acute drinking water shortage in parts of Palakkad, Thrissur and Malappuram districts.

The non-implementation of the 18 major recommendations of the Expert Committee on Bharathapuzha constituted by the Kerala Government in 1994 has led to the present scenario. A River Authority was suggested to take steps to protect the river, involving the departments of Irrigation, Tourism, Forest, Water Transport and Revenue. It is alleged that Rs. 6 crores collected as tax on sand removed from the river is lying idle instead of being used to protect the river.

Environmentalists say that the court restrictions on sand removal are being violated. The Kerala High Court recently imposed a ban on removal of sand from the Bharathapuzha. ``But the authorities bound to implement the orders look the other way when violations take place,'' environmentalists said.

The `sand lobby', according to them, is so influential that as per unofficial estimates, Rs. 400 crores worth sand is removed from the Bharathapuzha annually. To check this most powerful lobby will be a Herculean task.

The Bharathapuzha Samrakshana Samithy is running a campaign for the protection of the river and is asking every political party and candidate to work for saving this major river system.

The secretary of the Committee, Mr. Indanur Gopi, told The Hindu that much water had flown down the river basin of Periyar, Chalakkudy and Bharathapuzha since the signing of the PAP agreement between Kerala and Tamil Nadu in 1958. This inter-State agreement described as an ``outstanding example of inter-State cooperation between two neighbouring States'' continued to be caught in a major controversy, he said.

The Kerala Government, of late, had realised that the major share of water from the three basins was going to Tamil Nadu because of the PAP agreement, he said. The Government had alleged violations by Tamil Nadu and said that the State was not getting a single drop of water from the Parambikulam group of reservoirs, Mr. Gopi added.

He said the Kerala Assembly Ad hoc Committee report on the Parambikulam-Mullaperiyar water-sharing agreement in its 1994 report had said that Kerala was getting only 15.912 tmc of water as against its due share of 41.74 tmc.

While Kerala has demanded a complete redistribution of water under the PAP agreement, the Tamil Nadu Government has asked for additional water from the Anamalayar and Nirar rivers in Kerala.

The LDF convener, Mr. V.S. Achuthanandan, took up the issue of PAP water and visited all the dams and distribution systems under it during 1997. His criticism of the LDF Government and its then Irrigation Minister, Mr. Baby John, for their ``failure'' to take effective steps to protect the State's interests unleashed a major controversy in the State.

Now, Mr. Achuthanandan is contesting as LDF candidate in the Malampuzha Assembly constituency. The Malampuzha reservoir that supplies water for drinking and irrigation to the Palakkad town and other adjacent panchayats is also facing problems due to its depleting water level.

Environmental groups who are trying to raise the issue of the PAP agreement, drying up of the Bharathapuzha, shortage of water in the Malampuzha dam, etc., hope that the presence of leaders like Mr. Achuthanandan, who have shown keen interest in the problem, will help find a solution. However, they accuse certain local politicians of encouraging the `sand lobby'.

The Bharathapuzha Samrakshana Samithy is organising a convention here next week to highlight the need to protect the Bharathapuzha river system which is the lifeline of three districts.

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Section  : Southern States
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