Our Bureau

Thiruvananthapuram , March 3

FACED with one of the worst droughts to hit the northern districts in recent times, the State Government is contemplating a number of contingency measures in order to weather the "critical 90-day period" leading up to the onset of the next southwest monsoon season.

Addressing newspersons here, the Water Resources Minister, Mr T. M. Jacob, said the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) has been asked to take up the task of sinking thousands of bore wells on the all but barren Bharatapuzha bed, the largest river system of the State. As many as 1,763 such wells have been targeted to be sunk before March 31, the Minister added.

The situation is so grave that downstream townships such as Guruvayoor and Ponnani do not currently have drinking water supplies that last for more than half-an-hour.

Earlier, the Minister chaired a meeting of high-level officials of the KWA and the Irrigation Department to discuss the precipitous situation borne largely out of the successive failures of the southwest and northeast monsoon systems.

Officials manning the dam structures at various places in the State have been asked to direct flows during fixed time spells through the canals originating from the dam sites so that aquifers in and around the areas get charged.

The Government is also willing to take up pipeline expansion on a war-footing in the most affected places. Meetings of executive engineers and other officials have been planned to examine the scope in various districts. These meetings will be held from March 10 onwards, starting with Kollam. All possible steps are being taken to popularise rainwater harvesting schemes while directives have been issued for setting up a number of check dams in the State, especially the northern districts of Palakkad, Kozhikode and Wayanad. Palakkad has been the worst affected, he added.

As many as 60 check dams have been constructed during the course of the year and estimates for another 30 were being readied. Compulsory provision of rainwater harvesting facility even in existing buildings is a sensible proposal worth considering, the Minister said.

Along with this, serious attempts would be made to highlight the need for banning sand mining on riverbeds, which has been identified by a specially deputed team of the Kerala Water Authority as the single-most important causative factor for the seasonal drying up of Bharatapuzha, the lifeline of an estimated 15 lakh people in the northern districts.

All 44 river systems in the State support major drinking water schemes catering to the requirements of thousands of families in the immediate neighbourhood. All of them have consistently undergone depletion in levels on account of illegal sand mining, Mr Jacob said.

The most compelling reason that prevents a wholesale ban on river sand mining is the concern expressed by the construction industry. According to the Minister, it is high time that alternative construction material such as quarry sand is popularised. But this has to be a sustained campaign, and cannot be achieved overnight.

PTI adds: The Chief Minister, Mr A.K. Antony, today left for Delhi to press the State's case for liberal Central assistance to meet severe drought situation gripping the State. Mr Antony planned to meet the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, who is the Chairman of the committee that looks into the drought situation in various parts of the country.

``I will try to convince the Deputy Prime Minister of the gravity of the drought in Kerala and try to get maximum possible assistance to tide over the difficult phase,'' the Chief Minister told reporters at the airport before emplaning for Delhi.

Mr Antony said he expected that the Central team, which visited Kerala to assess the magnitude of the drought, would have submitted its report.

The panel, comprising Agriculture Minister and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission besides the Deputy Prime Minister, would decide on the quantum of assistance after going through the report.

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