Date:12/09/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/09/12/stories/2006091213510300.htm

Kerala - Alappuzha

Sharad Pawar visits barrage at Thanneermukkom

Staff Reporter

Need to replace central bay with shutters explained

ALAPPUZHA: Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar visited the Thanneermukkom barrage across Vembanad Lake on Monday morning. He arrived at the barrage at around 8.30 a.m. and spent ten minutes there.

The barrage was constructed to prevent intrusion of saline water into Kuttanad and facilitate the flow of floodwater from Kuttanad to the sea thereby helping rice cultivation in the wetland of Kuttanad. The barrage was partly commissioned in 1975.

The 1250-m barrage has 31 shutters. The central part is an earthen embankment.

Water Resources Minister N.K. Premachandran and officials of the Irrigation Department explained to the Minister the need to construct shutters at the central part of the barrage.

Silt accumulation

This would prevent silt accumulation upstream and downstream and make floodwater flow easier, officials said.

They pointed out that easy discharge of floodwater would protect the paddy crop from floods and more area could be brought under paddy cultivation.

Moreover, construction of shutters would indirectly help the fisheries sector, officials noted.

Spawning affected

Officials pointed out that the central bay at present interrupted the migratory route of marine fish and prawns and the shutters that could be opened for discharge of floodwater would allow movement of fish and prawns that entered the lake for laying eggs, noted officials.

Mr. Pawar asked about the estimated cost of the construction and Mr. Premachandran submitted a detailed report on the project to him.

Ministers present

Ministers C. Divakaran, Mullakkara Ratnakaran, S. Sarma, K.S. Manoj, MP, and Alappuzha district panchayat president R. Nazar were present.

Our Staff Reporter writes from Kottayam:

Submits charter

The Kerala Congress (M) leaders on Monday submitted a charter of demands to Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar seeking comprehensive measures to end the crisis in the agriculture sector.

KC(M) leader K.M. Mani said the demands included farmer-friendly initiatives in the area of farm credit and policy initiatives in global and regional trade agreements. The memorandum demanded that the entire `Kuttanad' area be included in the proposed package, and not Alappuzha revenue district alone, as it formed a contiguous wetland ecosystem.

The KC(M) charter urged to Government to adopt a liberalised credit policy by writing off agriculture loans of those with less than one hectare of land and extending interest-free loans to them, lowering of interest rate to 3 per cent for those up to two hectares and a special financial grant to coconut farmers.

It also sought steps to safeguard Indian farm produces in the WTO agreements and other regional trade agreements.