The Hindu                20.04.2013

Stress on protecting drinking water sources

192 ponds to be restored in Palakkad.

Minister for Water Resources P.J. Joseph has said that
schemes have been drawn up to renovate 192 ponds in the district on a
war footing.

He was addressing a review meeting,
attended by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, on drought-relief measures in
the district at the Collectorate conference hall here on Friday.

Mr.
Joseph said that more check-dams would be built on rivers, particularly
on the Bharathapuzha, to preserve drinking water sources.

Officials
of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) told the meeting that of the 110
drinking water schemes in the district, 105 were affected by shortage of
water for pumping as they were based on surface water.

If
two more regulators like the one at Chamravattom were constructed at
Shoranur and Ottapalam on the Bharathapuzha, the water shortage could be
solved to a great extent, C.P. Mohammed, MLA, said.

M. Hamsa, MLA, demanded the completion of the Shoranur check-dam taken up three years ago.

P.K.
Biju, MP, alleged that though an amount of Rs.1.2 crore was sanctioned
from the MPs Local Area Development Fund for drinking water projects,
these had not been implemented. Demanding urgent steps to provide
drinking water in Attappady, which has been severely affected by the
drought, M.B. Rajesh, MP, said that tribal children there were dying of
malnutrition and anaemia, and the government machinery had failed to
provide relief to them.

K.S. Saleekha, MLA, demanded
the release of water from the Kanjirapuzha dam for providing water to
drinking water sources in the downstream areas.

Aid sought

K.V.
Vijayadas, MLA, demanded Rs.10,000 in compensation for one acre of
paddy destroyed owing to the drought, as had been given by the Tamil
Nadu government to farmers in that State.

V.
Chenthamarakshan, MLA, urged the Chief Minister to take steps to get
water released from the inter-State Parambikulam Aliyar Project (PAP) by
Tamil Nadu to the Chitturpuzha to provide drinking water in Chittur
taluk. M. Chandran, MLA, urged the Chief Minister get the much-delayed
Palakapandi irrigation project completed to provide water in the Nemmara
and Ayilur areas.

Dam de-silting

The
demand for desilting the Malampuzha dam to allow storage of more water
in the reservoir for use during the summer months was raised by Shafi
Parambil, MLA.

V.T. Balram, MLA, demanded more
check-dams on the Bharathapuzha to conserve water for use in the summer
months, and to protect drinking water pumping sources. All ongoing
drinking water projects to be completed on a war-footing, A.K. Balan,
MLA, said. He wanted long-term projects to be taken up to tackle the
problem of frequent drought.

K. Achuthan, MLA, wanted the renovation of all ponds before the monsoon rains.

The
meeting was attended by Minister for Tourism A.P. Anil Kumar; District
Collector P.M. Ali Asgar Pasha; district panchayat president T.N.
Khandamuthan; Palakkad municipal chairman Abdul Khudoose; Shoranur
municipal chairman M.R. Murali; and officials of various departments and
local bodies.