The Ernakulam District Panchayat and the district administration have responded positively to a proposal from Maradu municipal authority for a district-level plan to get rid of water hyacinth from water bodies.
Both the district administration and the district panchayat are likely to work out a comprehensive action plan against water hyacinth in water bodies in the district, said Maradu Municipal Chairman T.K. Devarajan here on Monday.
He said that a broader plan was needed to fight the menace, which had choked water bodies in the district and other parts of the State. He said that a district level plan was needed and that the authorities concerned had responded positively to a suggestion from the Maradu Municipality.
The municipality has succeeded to a large extent in getting rid of water hyacinths from water bodies in the municipal area. A month-long campaign, involving an expenditure of Rs. 44 lakh, was undertaken by the municipal authority using funds also from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Mr. Devarajan said that though the water bodies within the municipal area are now more or less free of water hyacinths, there is a continuous flow of the water weeds from the eastern belts. The flow of water from Chithrapuzha threatens to fill the Chambakkara canal, Nettoor, Kunadannoor and other areas linked to the Vembanad with water hyacinths, he said.
Water hyacinths are widely used as an organic input in farms. There is also scope for using the water weeds for making value-added products.
