The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Coimbatore News : Plea for a separate Ministry for Water and Water Resource Protection

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Saturday, Oct 31, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

Plea for a separate Ministry for Water and Water Resource Protection

Staff Reporter

Coimbatore: The Environmental Cultural Yathra of the Tamil Nadu Environment Council has asked the Government to form a separate Ministry for Water and Water Resources Protection.

The yathra began on October 19 from Kanyakumari and is scheduled to reach Chennai on October 29. It reached Coimbatore on Friday.

The campaigners pointed out that Tamil Nadu had only 17.5 per cent of the area under forest cover of which a sizeable area was under degraded condition. The forests have faced severe deforestation and deterioration of the hill ecolony and bio-diversity through cultivation of mono crops both by the Government Forest Department and by the private companies and large tea/coffee plantations. Mining in the forest areas is another serious concern.

Tamil Nadu has 17 major river basins and all area polluted by untreated industrial chemical effluents. As most of the Tamil Nadu lie in rain shadow area and 73 per cent of sub surface of Tamil Nadu is rocky and ground accumulation is very tough. The land usage pattern in the State too showed a negative trend. There are 39,202 tanks in Tamil Nadu, studies had shown that 20 to 30 per cent of their storing capacity was already lost. Between 1975 and 1995 only 70 per cent of the tank feed areas received water from tanks. The appreciable move of the State Government was introduction of the Tamil Nadu Tanks Protection and Eviction of Encroachments Act of 2007.

Private shrimp industries and failure to regenerate mangrove is a concern for coastal conservation were concerned.

To combat global warming and adapt to climate change, there is a pertinent and urgent need to chalk a plan to protect the ghats, plains and coast. This could be achieved through a separate ministry for Water and Water Resources Protection. The ministry should have the highest powers and control over all other departments that deal with water and water resources. The ministry should have powers to control development and management of forests, rivers, tanks and water bodies and issues relating to use of water.

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