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Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram
By Our Special Correspondent
The Council, chaired by the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, also proposed legislation to make rooftop water harvesting compulsory for new buildings. The Minister for Water Resources, T.M. Jacob, who briefed presspersons on the deliberations of the Council, said the State would press the Centre for changes in the National Water Policy on issues such as interlinking of rivers. The State would present its views on the basis of the proposed policy, which would be ready by January next year. An expert committee headed by the Executive Director of Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM), E. J. James, would be formed to draw up the policy. It would submit the draft by November 30 for consideration by the Council at its next meeting in January 2004. The Minister said the Prime Minister, A. B. Vajpayee, had told him that the State would not be compelled to interlink rivers when he met the latter to present the resolution passed by the Assembly against the proposal to link the Pampa and Achenkoil rivers with the Vaippar basin. The Prime Minister promised a decision on the proposal at the next meeting of the National Water Development Agency, he said ``The State has no rivers that could be interlinked,'' Mr. Jacob added. The Buildings Act, he said, would be amended to make it compulsory to set apart a portion of the rooftop area of all types of buildings for water harvesting. The amendments would be introduced as an Ordinance next month. In future, it might even become necessary to insist on water harvesting facilities in old buildings too, he added. The Government proposed to tap all avenues for water conservation as decided at the Council. Check-dams and medium irrigation projects would be taken up along various rivers. Pools and ponds would be revived in cooperation with panchayats. The data on State's hydrology would be updated, he said. The State Water Resources Control Board, he said, would be revived with changes in its constitution and powers. Though it was envisaged as an advisory body, it remained defunct for long, the Minister said. He said the Council had met in 2001 after 12 years. All the recommendations of the meeting in 2001, including enactment of a unified irrigation law had been carried out, he said. Replying to questions, the Minister said the State Ground Water Department would be conducting a joint study with the Central Ground Water Board about the depletion of groundwater resources around the Coca-Cola factory at Plachimada in Palakkad. Studies conducted by the department earlier had shown variations in groundwater levels compared to the previous year's data. However, the depletion was not alarming according to the report. The final report of the ongoing studies would be made available before the Subject Committee visits Plachimada in September. He said that the expert committee constituted to draft the water policy would have the Chief Engineer (Irrigation), T. K. Sasi, the Managing Director of Kerala Water Authority, T. R. Indira, the Chief Engineer (KSEB), R. S. Chandramohan, and the Director of Ground Water Department, G. Balagangadharan Nair, as members. Besides Mr. Antony and Mr. Jacob, the Council meeting was attended by the Electricity Minister, Kadavoor Sivadasan, the Vice-Chairman of the State Planning Board, V. Ramachandran, the Principal Secretary (Water Resources), K. J. Mathew, the Chairman of the Kerala State Electricity Board, T. M. Manoharan, the Executive Director of CWRDM and other officials.
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