The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : River funds remain unspent

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Tuesday, Sep 30, 2008
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Kerala

Kerala - Kochi

River funds remain unspent

Staff Reporter

As on July 26, there was unutilised balance of Rs. 86 crore

Ernakulam district contributes Rs. 17 crore
to the fund
Few quality proposals from districts
to save rivers

KOCHI: Despite the swelling River Management Fund (RMF), the State has not been able to utilise the resources meaningfully for the protection and conservation of its rivers.

As on July 26 this year, the RMF, constituted under the Kerala River Bank Protection and Regulation of Sand Mining Act, 2001, had a balance of Rs. 86.78 crore.

Among the districts, Ernakulam topped the list in terms of contribution with more than Rs. 17 crore. Malappuram was second in the list with Rs. 16.68 crore.

Kozhikode with Rs. 10.88 crore, Thrissur with Rs. 10.85 crore, Kollam Rs. 7.14 crore, Palakkad Rs. 5.47 crore and Kannur with Rs. 5.17 crore came next in the list.

However, in the period between May 2006 and July 2008 Malappuram had a slight edge over Ernakulam as it contributed Rs. 8.68 crore compared to the latter’s Rs. 8.67 crore.

Ever since the RMF was created, Rs. 31 crore had been spent on 592 projects approved by the State Level Expert Committee (SLEC) composed of high level government secretaries, scientists and experts.

Despite the availability of funds, quality proposals to save 44 rivers flowing through the State were found wanting. Fine slapped for illegal sand mining constitutes one of the main sources of RMF.

To receive funding from the RMF, the district level expert committees chaired by district collectors have to submit proposals for the approval of SLEC. However, senior revenue officials lament the fact that the proposals from the districts were at the best ordinary.

At a review meeting held recently, Revenue Principal Secretary Nivedita P. Haran, frustrated at the lack of quality proposals from districts, said that 95 per cent of the proposals received by SLEC were for the construction of riverbank retaining walls.

The only exception, according to revenue officials, was a proposal from Malappuram for growing vetiver along the banks of a river. Besides its strong soil retention capacity preventing river erosion, the by-products generated from it provides a source of income as well, a revenue official said. Innovative ideas, however, begin and end with this single proposal.

M. Baba, Director, Centre for Earth Science Studies, lamented the tendency whereby some districts simply copied the proposals of other districts.

Identifying the lacuna, the revenue department has come up with a grant project worth Rs. 150 crore using the RMF to protect and conserve all the 44 rivers in the State.

Announcing this recently, Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran urged districts to come up with projects so that they could be approved by October and work could begin by November.

Going by the track record till date, how districts would respond to this and whether the projects could be implemented within a time frame without cost escalation remains to be seen.

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