Kerala - Pathanamthitta   

State urged to counter project to link rivers

PATHANAMTHITTA: The Pampa Parirakshana Samiti, Kozhencherry-based eco group, has called upon the State government to take effective steps to counter the reported move by Tamil Nadu to implement the proposed Pampa-Achencoil-Vaipar Link Project (PAVLP).

It is feared that the project will lead to a serious drinking water crisis in Central Travancore.

In a statement here on Thursday, Samiti general secretary N.K. Sukumaran Nair said Tamil Nadu had moved the Supreme Court seeking implementation of the project. He alleged that the State government was yet to take any steps to counter the move.

Mr. Nair alleged that the project proposed diversion of 634 million cubic metres (mcm) of water from the Achencoil and the Pampa rivers to the Vaipar river basin in Tamil Nadu on the basis of certain manipulated study reports stating that the two rivers had excess water.

Preliminary studies conducted by the National Water Development Agency showed that the Pampa and the Achencoil had a surplus of 3,127 mcm.

He said the project would irrigate 91,400 ha in the drought-prone areas of Tirunelveli, Chidambaram and Kamaraj districts in Tamil Nadu, besides generating 500-MW electricity.

The proposal was to construct concrete dams across the Pampa-Kallar at Punnamedu and across the Achencoil-Kallar at Chittarmoozhy, besides a concrete gravity dam in the Achencoil aimed at diversion of water to Tamil Nadu, he said.

The 176-km Pampa is the third largest river in the State with a catchment area of 2,235 sq km. The Pampa-Kallar is one of its tributaries and joins it at Vadasserrikkara. The Achencoil is another river that joins the Pampa at Veeyapuram, near Haripad. Both rivers empty into the Vembanad lake.

Mr. Nair said both the Pampa and the Achencoil go dry along many stretches during summer, leading to acute drinking water scarcity. Drying up of wells and drinking water supply schemes turning defunct owing to drastic water depletion have become common in both the river basins during the summer months.

The Central Water Commission studies have also found salinity intrusion in the Pampa beyond Edayaranmula, near Aranmula, during summer.

Mr. Nair said the project, if implemented, would lead to destruction of two major river systems in Kerala.

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