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.