The Hindu : `Water needs of people should to be met first'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 09, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

`Water needs of people should to be met first'

By Our Staff Reporter

KOZHIKODE JAN. 8. The noted environmentalist and president of the All India People's Plan and Science Network, M.K. Prasad, has reiterated that the drinking water needs of humans and domestic animals should be the primary concern of the Government. Providing water for industrial purposes is secondary. The National Water Policy enjoined the responsibility of providing the basic right on the Government.

Mr. Prasad was delivering the keynote address at a seminar on `Kudivella vilpana', organised by the Kerala Shastra Sahitya Parishad here today, in the light of the alleged covert attempts being made to sell the waters of the Periyar and other rivers in the State at the proposed Global Investors Meet (GIM) in Kochi.

The Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM), is the technical agency which has been conducting regular feasibility studies on the status of rivers, including the Periyar, and it was the right of the public to know the present condition of these water bodies.

Mr. Prasad ridiculed the fact that the waters (24 crore ml.) of the Periyar was allegedly being put up for sale to industrialists, when the river did not have enough to provide for the drinking needs of humans. Water flow from the river to sea was vital to maintain the coastal eco system. The inflow of industrial effluents into the Aluvapuzha too needed to be taken into account. All these vital aspects were being given the go-by in the haste to sell the river waters.

What was worse, the Ministers, including the Chief Minister, had mislead the public through their statements and counter-statements on the issue, he alleged. Why was no proposal being put up at the GIM for desalinisation projects, he questioned.

K. Sreedharan, V.V. Dashinamoorthy, K.T. Kunhikannan, among others, spoke.

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