Environmentalists, who are unenthused by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board’s (KSPCB) suggestion for a Periyar Action Plan, have demanded concrete measures for saving the river system.
Criticising the recently published report on Periyar as an eyewash, environmentalist C.M. Joy said similar reports prepared earlier had been gathering dust. The first such report was prepared a quarter century ago, he said.
It was in 1990 that a report for saving Periyar was prepared at the behest of the Ernakulam district administration. K.R. Rajan was heading the administration that time as the Ernakulam District Collector. Seven years later, another report was prepared while V.P. Joy was holding the post of the District Collector. Recommendations of both the reports were not implemented, said Dr. Joy who did his doctoral research in environmental issues of Periyar.
The KSPCB itself had drawn up at least four action plans spending public money. The fate of these reports was similar to that of the earlier ones. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had declared in 2011 that his government would take all possible measures for saving the river. Unfortunately, that promise also failed to materialise, he said.
Commenting on the recently published report prepared by the Department of Marine Biology, Microbiology and Biochemistry of the School of Marine Sciences of Cochin University of Science and Technology, noted environmentalist M.K. Prasad said the suggestions were inadequate for checking the pollution of the river system.
“The KSPCB cannot alone handle the responsibility of salvaging the river. Its mandate is limited to control the discharge of pollutants to the river. The discharge of untreated effluents by industrial units has to be curbed,” he said.
Mr. Prasad called upon the industrial units located on the banks of the river to scrap the existing production process and adopt new technologies for preventing pollution. If required, the industries should get new machineries installed, he said.
Mr. Joy said the health impacts of pollution on human beings should be reviewed immediately as thousands were depending on the river for their drinking water needs. “The Pollution Control Board might have shelled out over Rs. 50 lakh for preparing various reports. However, it has failed to effectively implement the suggestions featured in the reports,” he said.
